


Little Berry

by Aquari Lynnel (MazokuSempai)



Category: Bleach
Genre: Eventually gets dark, Fluff, Humor, Language, M/M, Romance is implied but not outright stated, Some shouta moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-12
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-11 03:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 47,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8952430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MazokuSempai/pseuds/Aquari%20Lynnel
Summary: Ichigo and Grimmjow's final showdown goes horribly wrong, resulting in Grimmjow being forced to care for the shinigami. Will Grimmjow lose his sanity in the process, or discover a deeply hidden devotion?





	1. Fight Gone Horribly Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Deciding to mass upload this over from the other site because I can. No editing has been done, so if you've read it there, everything is the same. Please enjoy to your heart's content.

Grimmjow tossed his head back and laughed manically, his teal panther ears of his released form shaking with the move. A short distance across the sand, Ichigo pulled himself to his feet, his hollow mask nearly gone. Panting heavily, the shinigami held Tensa Zangetsu firmly in both hands as he waited for the Espada to make his next move.

"What's the matter shinigami?" the blunette teased, a feral grin seemingly stuck on his face. "Can't keep up?"

Ichigo remained silent, his ever present scowl faltering slightly as a quick dizzy spell coursed through his body. Something was wrong. He never felt like this until his mask had completely broken. Shaking his head to clear it, he raised his zanpakutou and released a full powered Getsuga. Grimmjow slapped the attack away without batting an eyelash and charged toward the teen, grin still in place. Far too tired to fight back, Ichigo just stood there as the Espada reeled his fist back before crushing in into the teen's face. Ichigo tumbled back quite a bit before crashing into a busted red pillar.

"Kurosaki-kun!" the busty auburn woman screamed.

Grimmjow growled and grit his teeth. He was getting really sick and tired of that woman screaming the shinigami's name. As much as he wanted to kill her, he wouldn't just for the sheer fact she returned his arm to him. However, that didn't mean he'd save her from a hungry hollow. Ignoring the wench for now, he shifted his gaze back to the smoke cloud that had erupted the moment the Ichigo collided with pillar. Grimmjow stood waiting for the smoke to clear. It took a few moments, but when it finally did, confusion fell over the Espada and the two spectators.

"Did I kill him?" the blunette mumbled as he took a few steps toward the crumbled pillar. As he quickly closed the gap, his blue eyes widened at the sight before him. "What the hell?" he cursed.

Ichigo's shihakushou merely lay on the sand, a small bump moving around inside the clothing. Against his better judgment, Grimmjow lifted the fabric to peer inside. Large doe like amber eyes gazed curiously at the blunette as a small hand reached out to touch him.

"Kitty!"

Blue eyes widened as he realized that he was indeed staring at the shinigami he was previously fighting; only now, he was a small child. How in all creation did this happen? He didn't have much time to think on it as Nnoitra and Tesla appeared as well as Starrk. The primera was over by the witch woman, so he most likely came to return her to Aizen. However, Nnoitra and his little slave were close to him, too close. Child or not, the shinigami was his to kill. Thinking quickly, he gathered the naked child and wrapped the shihakushou tightly around him so as to conceal him. He turned around, prepared to return to his quarters, but halted at seeing the Quinto so close.

"Where ya goin' Grimmjow?" Nnoitra questioned his trademark grin in place.

"To my quarters," the blunette snapped out. "Fight's over."

"What happened ta the cute lil shinigami?"

"Dead."

Nnoitra's gaze shifted from Grimmjow's face to the bundled fabric in his arms. "Whatcha got there?"

Grimmjow merely glared at the raven haired Espada before using sonido to return to his room. Once in his room, he gently placed the bundle of shinigami on his bed, ignoring the fighting still occurring outside. It took just a moment for the young orangette to wriggle free. His large amber eyes looked on in awe at the large and mostly empty white room. The boy's eyes stopped upon seeing Grimmjow once more.

"Kitty!" he called out, his small arms waving in the air indicating he wanted to be picked up.

Upon hearing the same word fall from the boy's lips once more, the Sexta realized he was still in his release form. Closing his eyes, his armor glowed a light blue before it faded revealing his scarred tanned chest. He sheathed Pantera and leaned forward to get a better look at his rival. He was not prepared for the small child to grab onto his unruly blue hair and tug.

"The hell shinigami!" Grimmjow cried out and pried his hair from the boy's hand. To repay the favor, he grabbed a fistful of tangerine locks and tugged harshly. He was not prepared for the boy to start wailing, tears streaking down his chubby cheeks. "Shit," he cursed as he released the boy's hair and pat his head in response. "I let go. See?" Grimmjow held his hands out in front of the crying child to see. However, the crying did not cease.

"Stop crying!" he ordered. Ichigo stopped crying momentarily to sniffle a few times before he started wailing again. Grimmjow attempted to shush the boy, but it was no use. "What the hell do you want from me?"

The blunette was not known for his patience. Blue eyes scanned the room trying to find something to silence the boy and save his sanity. His eyes fell upon the coffee table by the couch where a lone book sat. Rushing over, he grabbed the book before quickly opening it and thrusting it at the boy. Ichigo instantly stopped crying and looked at the large book in his lap. His brown eyes gazed up at Grimmjow for a moment before looking back to the book.

"Can you even read?" he asked the boy. Ichigo responded with a squeal before tearing out the pages one by one. Grimmjow sighed as he remembered just where he got that book. "Ulquiorra is going to be pissed."

The tearing halted as Ichigo gazed back at Grimmjow, a tense look on his young face. "Kitty."

"Hmm?"

"Potty!"

"What do you mean 'potty'?" This version of Ichigo was much more complicated to deal with. At least when he was a shinigami it was simple. He just had to let instinct take over, but this young boy was forcing him to take in the situation and think. Grimmjow hated thinking.

"Kitty!" the boy cried out as he slid off the bed and covered himself, bouncing his weight from foot to foot. "Potty! Potty!"

"I don't know what that is!" he growled, doing his best to keep his anger under control. Seconds later he heard the sound of liquid hitting the cold cement floor. It was then he realized what 'potty' meant. "Oh..." Grimmjow paled. As soon as young Ichigo had finished, his doe brown eyes welled up with more tears. "Shit! Don't cry! Don't cry!"

Much to his dismay, the crying resumed. Grimmjow tried using the book to calm the boy, but it didn't work. Covering his ears to blot out the annoying sound, his blue eyes shifted to the adjoining bathroom. An idea clicked in his head as he rushed over to the large room and began filling the tub with water. Seeing as how Ichigo was much smaller, he only filled the tub half way. It would do him no good if the boy drowned, seeing as he still wanted to finish their fight. Once the tub was filled, he returned to the room to grab Ichigo. He tucked the crying child under his arm and carried him to the bathroom before gently setting him into the bath.

Ichigo's ceased crying once more as his eyes widened and his face lit up with a huge smile. Grimmjow knelt down, "You like baths?" he questioned. His reward was a splash of warm water to his face and a squeal of delight.

The combination of the happy squeal and the look of sheer happiness on the child's face caused Grimmjow to smile warmly at the orangette. Ichigo's smiled widened more so at the blunette's expression. "Kitty!" he called happily as he reached out and touched the Espada's uncovered cheek.

Blue eyes widened as Grimmjow jerked back from the move, a light blush dusting his cheeks. He growled before glaring at the child. He wasn't really angry at Ichigo seeing as how the boy no longer had the mental capacity to understand what he was doing. He was angry at himself for allowing such an act to get to him. There was only one way to fix this. Reaching for a small nearby bucket, he scooped up some water before promptly dumping it onto the boy's head. Ichigo squealed happily and a water war began.

* * *

 

After thoroughly soaking the bathroom, Grimmjow emerged victorious in the water war. The two sat on the couch as the blunette toweled the child off. Once done, he wrapped Ichigo in the towel before clasping his own chin in thought.

"You can't exactly run around naked. You'll need some clothes."

Grimmjow stared at Ichigo as he tried to recall if anyone had clothing close to his size. The only other child in Hueco Mundo was Lilynette, but she was still much bigger than the tiny child before him. He'd have to improvise. Heading over to the bed, he tore off a panel of the black hakama as well as the white sash. Moving back to Ichigo, he removed the towel and wrapped the large panel around the boy's waist before quickly tying it in place with the section of sash.

"That should work."

Ichigo looked curiously at the fabric before smiling up at Grimmjow causing the Espada to smile in return. The blunette quickly caught himself and replaced the smile with a scowl. Standing, he picked up the child and set him on the couch before covering him with a small blanket.

"Alright kid, time to sleep."

Grimmjow moved to his own bed and climbed under the covers, hoping the brat would just pass out. He'd had a long day and was desperate for some much needed rest. He sighed as he heard fabric shifting followed by the pitter patter of bare feet against the cold floor. Once the noise stopped, he peaked his head out from under the cover's to glare at the child.

"Kitty?" Ichigo spoke softly.

"What?" he snapped.

"Story," the boy responded holding up the torn book for emphasis.

"No, go the fuck to sleep," Grimmjow grumbled as he rolled over, ignoring the child.

A few moments passed before he heard the pitter patter once more, this time moving away from him. Grimmjow mentally thanked whoever was listening for giving him this one thing. The mental prayer was cut short as the young Ichigo suddenly pounced onto him, book still in tow.

"Fuck!" Grimmjow grunted as the child managed to deflate his lungs with the move.

"Story Kitty!" Ichigo demanded as he harshly beat the book against the blunette's head.

"God you're such a brat," the Espada grumbled as he took the book and sat up. Ichigo moved to quickly sit next to Grimmjow and pulled the blanket up as he got comfortable. Grimmjow scanned a few pages of the book before looking back at the orangette's expectant face. "This book is too old for you," he said as he tossed the book aside. "Just go to sleep."

Grimmjow slid back down and nestled comfortably under the covers. Ichigo did not like this as he promptly began pushing against the blunette's shoulder repeating kitty over and over in an attempt to gain his attention. The blunette merely ignored the child and hoped he would get the picture and go to sleep. He was however not prepared for Ichigo to start wailing again.

"Is that all you do?" he growled as he rolled over to face the crying child.

"Story! Story!" Ichigo moaned in between wails.

"Shut your fucking mouth and lay down!" Grimmjow bellowed effectively silencing the boy. Although the tears continued, the only sound heard was Ichigo's gasps and whimpers as he attempted to remain silent. Sighing, the blunette closed his eyes before speaking. "Once upon a time, there was this orange haired shinigami."

"Yay! Story!" the boy cried out happily as he wiped his tears.

"Keep your mouth shut or I'll stop," he ordered. Ichigo nodded and burrowed further into the blanket to better see Grimmjow as he spoke. "So this shinigami was the strongest shinigami out of those present in the human world. He thought he could beat me easily, but I showed him just how wrong he was." Grimmjow paused as he rolled onto his back, arms tucked underneath his head as he stared at the ceiling. "Not once during the whole fight was I forced to unsheathe Pantera. But the whole time, that brat stared at me like he was going to win. It just burned my blood and made me want to kill him even more. Just as I was preparing to kill him, he fired this attack at me and managed to damage me."

Grimmjow turned his head and was surprised to see the young orangette sleeping soundly. As much as he mentally fought it, he couldn't stop the small smile from crossing his lips. Blue eyes closed as he whispered, "Fucking brat," before quickly succumbing to the beautiful darkness of sleep.

 


	2. Adventures in Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grimmjow gets a taste of full time child care. Also, Ichigo is being portrayed as somewhere between the ages of 2 and 3.

Grimmjow slowly awoke to a weird sensation against his chest. A soon as it vanished he allowed himself to drift a bit further back toward unconsciousness, that is, until the sensation occurred again. Moaning softly he swatted at whatever was causing the sensation and rolled onto his back. The Espada sighed happily as he felt his mind being drug back down into blissful sleep. It wasn't meant to last however as the wind flew out of his lungs due to a heavy object landing on his chest.

"What the-" he started, but stopped as he managed to pry his ocean blue eyes open only to stare into large deep brown eyes. That's right. That stupid shinigami somehow got himself turned into a kid, his mind provided. "What the hell do you want?"

"Up Kitty!" Ichigo ordered happily as he slapped the blunette's uncovered cheek a couple times. "Food!"

"Fine," Grimmjow growled as he sat up causing the child to tumble gleefully to the soft bed.

The Espada felt a smile tugging at his lips upon hearing the child's giggles. The smile quickly turned into a scowl. Just why was that little brat making him so... Well he couldn't describe how he felt, he was just feeling and Grimmjow did not like feeling.

Standing, he ordered Ichigo to stay as he exited the room to obtain food for the boy. The halls of Las Noches were eerily quiet and empty which was rather odd considering they were about to go to war. Had Aizen already invaded Karakura? If anyone would know it would be the blasted pet of that exiled shinigami. Speak of the devil himself.

"What brings you out here so early Grimmjow?" the raven haired Espada questioned, face belaying no emotion.

"Just looking for some food," he grumbled. "Has Aizen invaded the humans yet?"

"It would seem so," Ulquiorra responded. "Don't know why you're looking for food inside, all the hollows are outside."

"Not hollow," Grimmjow muttered as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I'm looking for that human food Aizen and his bitches always eat."

The other Espada blinked no other change on his face as he spoke. "You can find it in the room next to the meeting hall."

Without another word, the blunette dashed past the stoic man to obtain the food. Upon arriving in the small room, he spotted a wide array of food, but he wasn't sure what the kid would like. Snagging a large bowl, he began filling it with various fruits, hoping that the kid would eat some of it. Satisfied with his choices, he exited the small room and headed back toward his quarters, unbeknownst to the pair of green eyes that watched him curiously. Upon entering his room, Grimmjow sat the bowl of fruit down on the coffee table, blue eyes scanning the room in the process.

"I brought food brat," he called out, not exactly seeing the kid anywhere. "Kid?"

He heard faint giggling over by the bed. Slowly he waltzed over to the bed, a knowing smirk across his face. Hopping on top of the bed, he quietly leaned over the side and peered underneath. There he spotted a bright head of orange peering out from the other side of the bed, snickering softly. Smirking turning into a feral grin, Grimmjow grabbed the boy's ankle and yanked him out from under the bed, holding him upside down. Ichigo squealed in delight from the move as his arms flailed happily. Grimmjow stood and held the boy up higher to where their noses touched.

"Kitty fun!" Ichigo called out before giving a quick kiss to the blunette's nose.

Grimmjow's face lit up like a tomato from the move. Still holding the boy by his ankle, he growled in the child's face. "Don't do that again."

Ichigo's giggles instantly stopped as his eyes welled up. Great, now the kid was going to start bawling again. Sighing, Grimmjow carried him upside down over to the couch before dropping him onto the soft cushions. "Eat," he ordered as he gestured to the bowl of fruit.

The orangette grabbed an apple before holding it up to the blunette. "Cut?"

Grimmjow took the offered apple and stared back at the child. "You want me to cut it up?" The boy nodded.

Blue eyes looked around for a knife of some sort before realizing he could just use his zanpakutou to cut the fruit. Tossing the apple into the air, his hand flew to Pantera's hilt. Before Ichigo could blink, the apple exploded into smaller slices. Brown eyes blinked a few more times before he squealed and clapped his hands repeatedly.

"You like that?" Grimmjow asked, smirking widely.

"Again! Again!"

Grimmjow then spent the next few minutes using Pantera to slice half the bowl of fruit into much smaller easier to eat pieces for the child. As the blunette sat down on the couch next to the kid, Ichigo held out a mango, hoping to get the Sexta to slice it up as well. Grimmjow just shook his head and placed the fruit back in the bowl. Ichigo tried a few more times with the same outcome. His innocent amber eyes welled up with tears again, but the moment he opened his mouth to start crying, Grimmjow quickly stuffed a piece of sliced apple inside to shut him up. Ichigo chewed the fruit before quickly smiling and diving in to eat.

* * *

 

After eating only half the cut up fruit, Grimmjow was forced to bath the messy and sticky child. Ichigo attempted to start another water war, but Grimmjow wouldn't have it. He quickly bathed the orangette before stuffing the makeshift loin cloth back onto the kid. At this point the blunette was trying to snag some more sleep, but Ichigo wouldn't have it. The small child continued to poke the Espada. He didn't speak; he just poked his side... Repeatedly. Just as Grimmjow felt his sanity shattering, the child finally spoke.

"Kitty?"

"What?" he growled through gritted teeth.

"Play?"

"I'm tired."

"Play?"

Blue eyes widened upon hearing the slight whine in the child's voice. Grimmjow merely rolled over, intent to ignore the boy. Yes, if you ignore them long enough they'll go away. However, with a child as stubborn as Ichigo, that would be nigh impossible and he quickly realized this when the child put his hand through his hollow hole. A deep shiver ran up his spine at the odd sensation. The blunette rolled over and came face to face with the shinigami.

"Listen you little shit," Grimmjow snarled, his sharper than normal canines visible. "Just because you keep pestering me, doesn't mean I'll do whatever you want."

"Kitty mad?" Ichigo questioned.

"Stop calling me Kitty! I'm not some god damn cuddly house cat!"

Ichigo's face scrunched up and his eyes filled with tears once more. "Kitty... no like... Berry?" he asked between hiccups as the tears began to spill over.

Grimmjow felt his chest tighten painfully at those words. Of course he didn't like Ichigo, they were enemies. But then... Why was he here now caring for the chibified shinigami? "Look kid," he started thanking everything that the child wasn't wailing. "It's not that I don't like you, but we're enemies. You should be thankful that I'm even helping you out right now."

"E-ma-nies?" Ichigo repeatedly slowly.

"En-e-mies," the Espada corrected. "We're on opposite sides so we fight a lot." Amber eyes just continued to stare curiously at him. At least he had stopped crying. Sitting up Grimmjow furiously scratched the back of his head. "If you were normal right now, we'd be tearing each other apart limb by limb."

Speaking of normal, just how would he get Ichigo back to normal? He could ask Szayel for help, but from what he'd gathered, the shinigami's friends did a number on him and he was still recovering. Not to mention the creep would probably attempt to experiment on him instead of helping. Who else could help? There was that creepy exiled shinigami Aizen loathed in the human world. But then Aizen was currently invading said human world, so leaving right now was out of the question. Grimmjow heaved a heavy sigh as he realized he'd be stuck with the brat for a while. It wouldn't be so bad if he could just fight him.

Fight?

This whole thing started during their fight. Maybe if he fought the brat he'd return to normal and they could finish things once and for all! Grimmjow would go easy of him of course. He'd just bait the brat until he attacked and just defend until he turned back into a teenager. Yeah, that should work. Patting the child's head, he ordered Ichigo to stay put once more as he ventured out to find the kid's discarded Zanpakutou.

* * *

 

It took a bit, but Grimmjow finally returned with Ichigo's zanpakutou, still in its bankai state. It would make things much easier. Upon entering his given quarters his jaw dropped and his blue eyes widened as he took in its current state.

"Wh-what the fuck happened?" the Espada sputtered out as he stormed into the room, slamming the door shut.

The bed was in disarray, the blanket somehow torn and the pillow's feathers spilled all over the bed and the small area around it. The couch had been turned onto it's back, the cushions strewn about the room. The small coffee table had a large hole through the middle and one leg broken off. Dropping Ichigo's zanpakutou in the middle of the room, his legs then carried him toward the bathroom where water could be seen running out of the doorway onto the tile. Sticking his head through the open doorway he noticed the toilet seat was up and water was pouring out of the broken device. Glancing over to the tub, his jaw dropped once more upon seeing soap covering the walls. At least the sink appeared to be in working order.

It was then Grimmjow realized that Ichigo was nowhere to be seen. A thunking noise reached his ears and his still stunned gaze shifted to the cabinet beneath the sink. He quickly tore the door open to see a filthy orange haired toddler whacking against the sink pipe with another pipe. Where the hell did he get the first pipe? Anger consuming him at having his room destroyed, Grimmjow reached out to grab the child. Just as his large hand wrapped around the boy's tiny wrist, the pipe beneath the sink gave way and water exploded forth directly at the Espada's face.

Momentarily surprised from the sudden aquatic assault, Grimmjow released his hold on Ichigo's wrist. The child took that as his chance to escape and immediately fled the bathroom. The blunette cursed loudly before finally gaining his bearings and turning quickly to give chase. Although shrunken, the shinigami still had his speed. It was a fast paced race of shunpo and sonido filled with high pitched giggles and squeals and loud angry curses. As Grimmjow tripped over the upturned coach, Ichigo dashed across the room and stopped when he spotted the shiny black katana.

Blue eyes widened as small hands wrapped around the hilt. "Drop it!" he ordered.

But Ichigo had other plans. Just as he was finally slowly lifting the sword, Grimmjow's door flew open to reveal the ever stoic Ulquiorra.

"Grimmjow, Aizen has-" The Espada stopped as he spotted the tiny child, staggering with the zanpakutou raised high above his head.

Grimmjow rushed over to grab the katana, but gravity took over faster and the sword came swinging down, a large black and red energy wave erupting from it. The blunette quickly grabbed the zanpakutou from the kid. The loud explosion resulting from the attack seemingly echoed throughout the white fortress. Blue and amber eyes blinked in unison as soon as the smoke cleared to reveal a large hole going through a few walls. Tucking Ichigo under his arm, Grimmjow slowly advanced to the opening in his wall to see the full extent of the damage. Seven walls and three rooms away stood a disheveled Ulquiorra. Although he always looked the same, Grimmjow could tell he was thoroughly pissed.

A head of silver poked out from the second room blasted through, a rather surprised look upon his face. "Maa maa," Ichimaru groaned as he took in the extent of the damage. "Aizen ain't gonna be pleased 'bout this."

"Fuck me," Grimmjow moaned as a hand covered his eyes and shook his head in disbelief, Ichigo squealing and giggling happily in his grasp.

 


	3. Caught and Separated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen discovers Grimmjow's little secret and decides to separate them while Ichigo continues to get into trouble.

Aizen sat in the large meeting room sipping away at his warm cup of tea. His plan to use Karakura to create the King's Key had majorly backfired. Even after defeating the shinigami present, the hougyoku seemed to remain dormant. The small crystal stopped glowing and radiating energy moments before he departed for the human world. He thought nothing of it at first, but when it didn't respond to his desires, he began to worry. Although they were victorious in the fight, Aizen was forced to retreat until the hougyoku decided to become active again.

The brunet man merely glanced toward the door way as a tremor shook the large white fortress, pulling him from his thoughts. A small frown tugged at his lips. It had to be Grimmjow. That espada was almost always destroying something, much to his displeasure. Aizen swore he did it just to grate on his last nerve. Needless to say it worked. The man schooled his face as he felt the mesh of energies moving toward the meeting hall.

The large doors swung open to reveal Ulquiorra forcing Grimmjow into the room, his arms held tightly behind his back. The Cuarto forcibly shoved the blunet's head onto the table, holding him firmly in place. Grimmjow struggled and demanded to be released. Aizen fought the overwhelming urge to sigh at this. The two were like children, constantly at each other's throat.

"What has this brute destroyed today?" the ex-captain questioned.

"Nothing Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra responded.

The brunet was unable to prevent the raise of his eyebrow in response. "If he has not destroyed anything, why did you bring him here?"

"He has betrayed you." Brown eyes demanded further explanation to which the Espada happily gave. "Grimmjow has been harboring the enemy in his room, apparently trying to heal him."

"This is a grave betrayal indeed," Aizen said as he placed his chin on his steepeled fingers. "How shall I deal with you my dear Sexta?"

"Maa maa," echoed from the hall as the silver haired shinigami approached the open doorway. "Perhaps you should see what he's been keeping first before you decide."

Cyan eyes widened as he spotted the large bump hiding in Gin's top. Grimmjow growled darkly as he watched the ever smiling man move closer to their infallible leader. "Get the fuck off me!" The blunette was rewarded with his head being slammed roughly against the table, dazing him momentarily.

Gin stopped and stared at Grimmjow, his usual smile faltering momentarily. Why was he being so possessive over the boy? Perhaps there was more going on than he had first assumed. His gaze was brought back to Aizen as the small child poked his head out from his baggy top. Gin's smile widened upon seeing the surprise flash across the shinigami's face.

"He was so cute," he said as he pulled the orange haired child from his clothing. "I couldn't say no." Gin then placed the barely clothed child on the table.

"Did Szayel experiment on Kurosaki?" the ex-captain questioned.

"Szayel was killed by a shinigami captain," Ulquiorra answered.

_So much for getting him to help change the brat back_ , Grimmjow mentally sighed.

Aizen reached out to touch the child, only to have the small boy scowl at him and scoot away. Brown eyes connected with emerald green, silently ordering Ulquiorra to release Grimmjow. The Cuarto reluctantly did so. As Grimmjow stood to his full height, he glared at the Espada standing off to his side before turning his glare to Aizen. The brunet stood, with the intent to further inspect the child, but Ichigo wouldn't have any of that. Standing on the table, the toddler turned his large amber eyes to Grimmjow and rushed toward him.

"Kitty!" he cried out, a hint of fear in his voice. Cyan eyes softened as Grimmjow moved to collect the child and return to his room, however, Gin stepped in and snagged Ichigo first. Ichigo struggled against the firm hold of the silver haired shinigami. "Kitty!" he cried out again.

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed on Gin as he growled, "Let him go."

"This is an interesting development," Aizen smiled slightly as he moved toward Gin.

Ichigo's squirming increased the closer the brunet got and Grimmjow's growling continued to grow in volume. The orangette stilled as Aizen reached out to touch his cheek, his large chocolate brown eyes wide with fear. The moment his skin made contact with the child's, Grimmjow was leaping at the brunet, prepared to rip his throat out. Before he could reach their so-called leader, Ulquiorra attacked and pinned him to the floor with relative ease.

Smile widening, Aizen moved to his pinned Sexta. "It seems you have grown attached to this shinigami in the time that he has been in your care." The blunet continued to growl darkly. "Perhaps we can use the child to our advantage. Gin," he turned to face his most trusted companion. "I will place the boy in your care. Find him some clothing that will... cover him." The shinigami's gaze returned to Grimmjow. "Ulquiorra, see to it that Grimmjow is returned to his quarters."

* * *

 

Much to both Espada's displeasure, Ulquiorra was forced to share his room with Grimmjow seeing as how the Sexta’s was currently being repaired. The raven haired espada currently sat on his couch, eyes darting back and forth lazily across the page of the book he currently held. It wasn't all that interesting, but it did help distract his attention from the grumbling blunet lying on his couch.

"I'm not attached to the brat," Grimmjow grumbled.

"Of course not," came Ulquiorra's rather sarcastic reply.

The Sexta growled deeply as his cyan eyes narrowed on the raven haired arrancar. "I wasn't talking to you."

A tired sigh escaped his slightly parted lips as he returned his full focus back to his book. However it was short lived as the blunet continued to mumble to himself.

"Just wanted to finish my fight. I hate being interrupted."

Ulquiorra sighed again and fought the urge to roll his eyes. "If you feel nothing for the shinigami, why didn't you just kill him?"

"He's just a kid!" Grimmjow snapped as he bolted upright to glare darkly into emerald orbs.

"You seem to forget he was technically a child before." At this, the Sexta’s eyebrow rose in slight confusion. "You know nothing of humans do you?" Grimmjow just grunted before standing and moving toward the door. Setting his book aside, the Cuarto stood, but made no move toward the other espada. "What you doing?"

"None of your business," he shot back. Before the blunet could open the door, he found himself thrown to the floor, a foot pressed firmly against his chest.

"Aizen ordered me to babysit you," the raven haired arrancar replied. "What you intend to do is my business." Grimmjow propped himself up on his elbows the second Ulquiorra removed his foot. However, the blunet suddenly found the Espada’s sword lightly touching the dip in his neck, the cold steel pricking his flesh. "I hope you're not thinking of going to collect the shinigami. He is no longer under your care."

Cyan eyes narrowed on the espada as a growl issued from his throat. No one would stop him from doing as he pleased. Unfortunately, he knew he could not beat the Cuarto in a fight. That just meant he would have to think of a way to gain the upper hand. Grimmjow really hated thinking.

* * *

 

Gin ran a shaky hand through his silver locks. Ichigo was much easier to deal with when he was a teenager. But this... This toddler was more than a handful. Gin had bathed him, winding up more soapy and wet than the tiny shinigami. He had attempted to feed him which ended in a messy disaster and another bath. He had even tried to play with the child, but Ichigo just wouldn't have it. Currently, he was attempted to put the arrancar uniform on him, but was struggling to catch the blur of orange in order to cloth him.

The former captain was beyond surprised to find a uniform lying about that was small enough for him. The hakama was small and would no doubt look incredibly adorable on the child, that is if he could catch the naked boy long enough to force them on. Somehow during all the chasing, Ichigo had figured out how to shunpo which was making his current predicament that much more difficult. As the fuzzy head of orange blurred past him, Gin leapt into action, literally. He managed to pin the toddler down and quickly forced him into the white hakama with a black waist sash. The moment it was tied however, Ichigo darted off once more.

A weary sigh escaped the former captain as he moved to collect the top of the outfit from the small table in his quarters. The top was a mostly white long sleeves turtle neck like top. The black trim adorned the bust line as well as the hem around the bottom, the sleeves, and the top of the turtle neck. It would definitely suit the boy. That is, if he could catch him again to stuff him into it. Turning around, the silver haired shinigami noticed that the room was awfully quiet and still considering there was a rambunctious toddler within its walls.

One crystal blue eye peeked open in surprise. Ichigo was just standing there, staring at him, his head cocked to the side slightly in what appeared to be confusion. Not one to waste such a perfect opportunity, Gin hurriedly pulled the top over the unruly child. Ichigo huffed as his head managed to pop free from the confining fabric. Doe like amber eyes continued to stare questioning at the shinigami as he helped the toddler put his arms into the top.

"There," Gin said as he adjusted the top to sit properly on the boy. "Now don't you just look handsomely adorable." Gin frowned slightly as Ichigo continued to stare at him. No... He seemed to be looking past him.

Just then a deep chuckle resounded behind him, startling him slightly. "Gin, you would make the perfect mother."

Huffing, the silver haired shinigami stood to his full height and faced his guest. "That just means the world to me coming from you Aizen," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Aizen merely chuckled and took a few steps closer to Ichigo in order to better examine the child. "The clothes suit him."

Silence fell over the room. Although it was odd for the child to be standing still and quiet at that, Gin chalked it up to Aizen's presence. Something about the man commanded order. Obviously it was strong enough for Ichigo to pick up on if he was being so obedient. Taking a few more steps toward the child, the brunet smiled as the trademark scowl replaced the look of wonder on the toddler's face.

"I can't help but wonder if he has retained his memories," the ex-captain thought aloud.

"There's no way to really tell," Gin replied. "If we could somehow change him back..."

The brunet cupped his chin in thought. "That could be a problem. Without knowing how he wound up like this, fixing it will be that much more difficult."

Much to Gin's dismay, the door opened suddenly, revealing a rather tired looking Starrk. Before the espada could utter a word, orange and white blurred past him, the empty hall behind him suddenly echoing with squeals and laughter. Unphased by the commotion, he bowed slightly to Aizen before speaking.

"The shinigami that were here and in the human world seem to have returned to Soul Society."

"Thank you Starrk," the brunet replied, dismissing the espada before turning his attention back to his silver haired companion. "Gin?"

The former captain sighed, his shoulders sagging slightly as he exited the room and headed down the hall in order to bring the child back.

* * *

 

Berry missed Kitty. He liked to play with Kitty more than the creepy smiling man. Kitty would play back whereas creepy smiling man would just sigh and go about doing what he was doing. So the second the door had opened, Berry had rushed out to his freedom. He would stop every time he came across a door and push it open in hopes of finding his blue haired friend. After turning down yet another white hallway, the little Berry was ready to call it quits. However, when he turned back around, he realized that all the halls looked the same.

Poor Berry was lost.

His footsteps slowly came to a step as a soft sniffling began to echo in the vast halls. Not only was his search for Kitty fruitless, but now he was lost and scared of who could possibly find him. "Kitty," he sobbed softly. "Berry miss Kitty!"

Just as the tears began to spill over, his sobbing turned vocal. Hands balled up covering his eyes, the small child sank to his knees. He stayed there crying for quite some time before his cries of anguish turned back to soft sobs and sniffles.

"Whadda we have here?" a deep voice rasped behind him.

Ichigo's sobbing stopped instantly, his hands lowering slowly away from his face as he turned his wide amber eyes to the freakishly tall newcomer. The raven haired man's smile was wide and disturbing. One good eye leered down at the child, his disturbing smile seemingly widening even more as he adjusted the large crescent shaped weapon on his shoulder.

"Well," the arrancar cooed. "Yer that shinigami Grimm was fightin' ain'tcha?" The man leaned forward getting a better look at the orangette. "Yer a bit smaller than I remember."

"K-ki-kitty..."

"Kitty ain't here," Nnoitra sneered, his gripped tightening on his weapon. "An' yer still the enemy." Shifting it off his shoulder, he pulled it back before swinging it at the frightened toddler, his cackle resounding in the vast halls of Las Noches.

 


	4. Ichigo Be Nimble, Ichigo Be Quick, Ichigo Jump Over the Nnoitra Stick!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo has some fun with Nnoitra before Ichimaru comes to collect him.

Nnoitra's crescent shaped sword swung through the air, posed to slice his small target in half. The Espada's one good eye widened as he watched the small orangette dive between his legs at the very last second causing his weapon to collide roughly with the tiled floor. A muttered curse escaped his lips as a small shockwave was sent up his arm. Turning, he quickly spots the child dashing off down the hall. Giving a firm tug to his weapon, he pulled it free and turned to give chase.

"Get back here!" he hollered.

Ichigo looked over his shoulder, his amber eyes as wide as possible and filled with fear. Nnoitra smirked upon seeing such a scared look before hurling his weapon at the child. The tiny shinigami jumped, his timing perfect, narrowly missing the strike that would have surely been his end. Smirk disappearing, Nnoitra tugs the chain, pulling his weapon back. The Espada clicked his tongue against his teeth as he watched the boy dash down a joining hall.

Stepping quickly with a sonido, Nnoitra caught up instantly, quickly snatching Ichigo by the back of his shirt before he could get too far. The boy gave a loud scream as the lanky arrancar smiled widely as he turned the child to look him in the face. Opening his mouth, Nnoitra stuck out his tongue, preparing to do his trademark cero. However, before he could charge it up, Ichigo his tongue firmly and yanked as hard as he could. Eye widening, Nnoitra shook the child in his hold roughly for a moment before Ichigo finally released his hold on the appendage.

The Espada pulled his tongue back into his mouth for a moment before attempting the cero again. This time however, Ichigo poked Nnoitra's one good eye causing him to jerk his head back and curse as he dropped the child. The moment Ichigo's feet touch the floor, he's running at top speed down the hall. Instead of a scream however, he lets loose a loud squeal.

"He's enjoyin' this!" Nnoitra growled as he blinked his eye a few times to rid it of the stinging sensation. A second later and he's back to chasing the brat, weapon at the ready.

Throughout the halls swearing and laughter can be heard echoing loudly. Just when Nnoitra thought he had the upper hand, Ichigo easily turned it around. The chase became a bit more difficult as the child began to use shunpo to run even faster. The Espada had a rather difficult time keeping up.

Finally the two began to quickly approach the large doors leading out of Las Noches. In a last ditch effort to stop the boy, Nnoitra hurled his weapon a good distance ahead of the brat. After all, he couldn't exactly let him leave... Alive anyway. With a big burst of dust and small rubble, the weapon imbedded itself into the wall. Nnoitra continued to run toward the spot his weapon landed and smirked upon seeing the brat's hakama caught on the blade, pinning him to the wall.

Ichigo yanked a few times, unable to free the material before turning to look at the Espada heading toward him. His chaser was getting too close, and the child wasn't yet ready to quit the game. Grabbing the fabric once more, Ichigo began to tug much harder. This time he's much more successful as the sound of ripping fabric echoes softly. Once freed, the orange haired toddler fell backward onto his behind. Nnoitra's smirk disappeared and his loud growl filled the hall.

"Yer not gettin' away!" he shouted as he gave a harsh jerk to the chain of his weapon, dislodging it from the wall and hurling it toward himself. Much to the Espada's horror, he miscalculated his weapon's trajectory as he had continued to rush toward the boy. Instead of the handle falling into his hand as it should have, it collided firmly with his face. "Fuuu-" was all he managed to get out before it was lights out for the Quinto.

Ichigo blinked a few times as he watched the tall lanky man fall to the cold tiled floor. Standing, the child moved over to the unconscious arrancar and poked his cheek a few times. Receiving no response, he climbed onto the man's back, pushing his shoulders a few times in an attempt to rouse him. This too failed, so Ichigo was forced to use his last idea. Standing on Nnoitra's back, the child bent his knees before kicking off, only to land in the same spot. A rush of air passed between the raven haired Espada's lips, but there were no other signs of life.

"Up Buggy! Up!" Ichigo demanded as he continued to jump on the unconscious arrancar's back. "Play!"

Just when the tiny shinigami thought he was finally making progress, he stopped upon feeling as if he were being watched. He didn't even get the opportunity to turn and check before a yelp escaped him as he was grabbed harshly by the back of his collar.

* * *

 

The harsh clang of metal striking metal resounded in the small room that contained both Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. Unable to think of an escape plan, Grimmjow had merely resorted to fighting, hoping to gain the upper hand. He still had the tiny device that could be used as a temporary prison. If only he could get close enough to the Cuarto to use it.

"This is foolish," Ulquiorra spat, his voice even and monotonous even as he did so.

"Tch, you're just saying that because you're worried I'll beat you!"

Grimmjow suddenly wished he hadn't taunted the other Espada as he found himself blasted by a quick cero. It wasn't strong enough to damage his hierro, but it caught him off guard and knocked him off balance. Ulquiorra took advantage of this and charged toward the blunet, katana at the ready. A piercing scream cut through the tension in the room causing both to stop fighting and turn in the general direction of the scream.

"It's the brat," Grimmjow growled. He recognized it instantly. And it wasn't one of his happy squeals either, it was a scream of pure terror.

Sheathing his sword, he tore out of the room, Ulquiorra hot on his heels. The two scanned the halls searching for the owner of the scream, but coming up empty handed. For a moment, Grimmjow could have sworn he heard a squeal quickly followed by laughter, but it was faint. It could have easily been his mind trying to provide him with something to ease his worry about the orange headed shinigami. The two turned down another hall and halted as they spotted Nnoitra sprawled out cold on the floor.

Hurrying over to him, Grimmjow gave a harsh kick to the Espada's side. "Hey! Get your ass up!"

Grunting from the kick, Nnoitra seemingly stirred. Climbing to his feet, he clutched his head and shook it slightly trying to get his bearings back. "What?" he growled as he stood to his full height, a glare aimed down at the blunet.

"Where's the shinigami brat?"

"Fuck you," the Quinto spat before continuing to mumble to himself as he collected his weapon and stormed off.

"Dammit Nnoitra!" Grimmjow swore. "What did you-"

Ulquiorra cut him off with a firm hand on his shoulder. "The shinigami is fine. I can still sense his reiatsu." Removing his hand from the arrancar's shoulder, the raven haired Espada shoved his hands into his pockets and walked down the hall, following the toddler's unique energy.

Blue orbs widened ever so slightly. It was almost as if Ulquiorra were comforting him. Which was rather odd considering the hollow kept to himself and only ever really listened to Aizen. Thrusting his hands into his pockets as well, he began to follow the higher ranked Espada. Silence surrounded the two as the seemingly backtracked to the wing dedicated to the Espada's living quarters. They passed by Ulquiorra's room and began heading toward the hall that the top three Espada resided in.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra stopped right in front of the first door they came across. Raising an eyebrow, blue eyes stared at the Cuarto.

"Here?"

"It's where his reiatsu is strongest," the Espada shrugged.

Grimmjow held his breath unknowingly as the raven haired arrancar grabbed the door handle firmly before slowly twisting it. Shifting his weight slightly, he swung the door open and stepped inside, followed closely by the blunet. The sight that greeted blue eyes forced him to smile slightly while shaking his head.

There Ichigo was, on the floor, bounded tightly by a blanket and some rope, rolling happily around the floor. Hallibel sat on the couch, content with watching the ridiculous child. A sigh escaped Grimmjow causing the small orangette to gaze in wonderment in general direction of the noise. Grimmjow could feel his chest tighten as he watched that look of curiosity change into the most delighted and happy look he had seen on the child thus far.

"Kitty!" Ichigo squealed.

Hallibel couldn't refrain from chuckling at this. Blue eyes glared darkly at her as she spoke. "I apologize, but the nickname is rather suiting of you."

"Why is he tied up?" Ulquiorra interjected, preventing the blunet from attacking the blonde.

"I figured he would be much less destructive confined like this. After all, he somehow knocked Nnoitra unconscious."

The room instantly filled with a booming laugh as Grimmjow threw his head back and let loose. He would never let that bastard live this down. Ichigo joined in with the laughter, but obviously oblivious as to why the big kitty was laughing. It took a moment, but the blunet finally calmed down. His gaze returned to the child on the floor, who had resumed to rolling around in his binding.

Ichigo stopped and turned to look at Hallibel. "Fishy let Berry go?"

Hallibel flushed faintly at the nickname as was rewarded with more laughter from Grimmjow. She quickly put an end to it by throwing a hot cup of tea at the Sexta's face. Turning her attention away from the now spazzing Espada, she quickly untied the small shinigami. Before the toddler could dash toward his favorite play mate, the door opened to reveal a rather weary looking Gin.

His face relaxed slightly upon seeing the child. "Oh there you are." Stepping into the room, the silver haired ex-captain moved to collect the child.

"No!" Ichigo shouted, shaking his head furiously as he backed away from the shinigami.

"I don't like this arrangement any better than you," Gin sighed as he rushed to snag the orangette before he could run off.

The moment he placed his hands on the now crying boy's shoulders, he felt an immense reiatsu filling the room. Peeking one icy silver eye open, he turned his head slowly to see Grimmjow growling softly at him. A soft chuckle forced his other eye open as he snapped his head toward the source.

"Hallibel?" he questioned.

"I suggest you back away," the blonde responded, her voice filled with amusement. "That is, unless you enjoy the idea of your arms being ripped from your body."

Sighing heavily, the silver haired man lowered his arms and backed away from Ichigo, watching as the child ran straight toward the blunet, clinging tightly to his leg. Grimmjow's reiatsu immediately reeled in and his scowl disappeared to be replaced with a momentary smile.

Standing to his full height, Gin watched the pair before he finally spoke. "What's really going on between you two?"

"Not a damn thing," Grimmjow snapped back glaring at Aizen's underling, to which Hallibel chuckled once more. His glare shifted to her. "What the hell is so funny to you?"

"I'm surprised you haven't realized it yourself," she answered.

"If you could please explain what you find so amusing about this situation, I would greatly appreciate it." Gin seemingly begged of the Espada woman. He was at his wit's end with the child and Aizen would definitely disapprove of the relationship the Sexta and shinigami had seemingly formed in a short amount of time.

"Grimmjow is a feline type and felines are incredibly possessive over what they believe to be theirs," the blonde started as she moved to seat herself back onto her couch. Crossing her arms, she allowed the data to sink in before continuing. "Kurosaki is Grimmjow's adversary, his rival. I assume he feels he is the only one permitted to end the shinigami's life. I also assume this possessiveness extended to his new much younger form."

"Wouldn't he have just killed the child then?" Ulquiorra chimed in, thoroughly confused as to why that seemed to explain everything.

"No," Hallibel said. "Felines are also protective over their young. I'm not sure why, but his instincts seem to be under the belief Kurosaki is his young and he's treating him as such."

"The hell I am," snapped Grimmjow. "I'm just getting him healed up so we can finish our fight."

"In any case, we should inform Aizen of this before making any sort of decision on the matter." Gin headed for the door, knowing that the three Espada's and Ichigo would follow.

Ulquiorra exited the room first, following quickly by a quite pleased looking Hallibel. Just as Grimmjow turned to follow, he felt a harsh tugging on his hakama. Looking down, his eyes connected with beautiful amber orbs.

"Up Kitty!" Ichigo demanded.

Grimmjow let out a puff of air before a soft smile appeared on his face. "Just this once," he relented.

Crouching down he allowed the child to climb up his back and situate himself behind his head. Two little legs peeked out from either side of the Espada's neck, as his hand held two fistfuls of spiky blue hair gently. Slowly getting to his feet, Grimmjow exited the room and headed for the meeting hall; hoping Aizen wouldn't separate them again.

 


	5. Protecting the Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen is not pleased with the current events and is forced to dispose of the liability before things get further out of hand.

Drumming his fingers absent mindedly against the cold stone of his throne, brown eyes bored into the dull hougyoku. He had tried all he could think of to bring back the eerie glow to the stone, and every attempt ended in failure. He needed the hougyoku in order to complete his plans, but at this rate, the war would forever remain a stalemate. Sighing, he stopped his fingers as he felt a mingle of reiatsu approaching the throne room. Aizen resisted the urge to plow his hand through his slick brunet locks.

"What could it possibly be now?" he muttered just as the large doors opened.

The small entourage quietly entered the throne room and moved quickly toward the raised throne. Aizen's eyes fell to the orange head hiding behind unruly blue spikes. Before he could question this however, his most trusted companion spoke.

"A rather compelling explanation as to our favorite blue haired Espada’s current behavior has been brought to my attention," Gin sated as he took a few steps toward the throne so that he stood in front of Grimmjow.

The blunet scowled, but remained silent. He still thought Hallibel's reasoning was ridiculous, even if it did explain a few things he was uncertain about.

A lone brown brow rose at this, curiosity peeked. "Oh?" the brunet cooed.

The ex-captain nodded his head before continuing. "It seems his instincts are tellin' him to take care of Ichigo."

"Be that as it may, I hardly find an Espada's instinct to be persuasive enough in order for me to change my mind on this matter." Aizen closed his eyes as he allowed the information to sink into his audience. "It seems the shinigami is proving to be a nuisance more so than a benefit to our cause." The vast room was silent for a moment before their leader opened his eyes once again, uttering a single command. "Kill him."

"What?!" Was all Grimmjow could get out before a creepily smiling Gin turned on him, lunging for the child resting on his shoulders.

The Sexta jerked back, dodging the silver haired shinigami's grasp. However, this move caused Ichigo to slide back off of his shoulders as the child was unprepared for such a move. The orangette landed roughly on the cold tiled floor, a sharp yelp bouncing off the walls. Before the toddler could climb to his feet, his large amber eyes spotted a glowing green light aimed at him. Just as Ulquiorra's cero fired off, Grimmjow collected the child, using sonido to escape the hall.

Aizen gave a quick nod at the group before they flitted off after Grimmjow and the shinigami.

Grimmjow knew he was outmatched with this latest development. If he couldn't beat Ulquiorra then he would stand a chance in hell against Hallibel let alone Ichimaru. Rushing down the halls, he ducked behind a corridor just as a cero was fired off in his general direction. Cyan eyes shifted down momentarily to gaze at the confused child clinging tightly to his jacket.

"Look kid," he started as he slipped into adjoining hall, his feet never faltering once. "I know you don't want to, but this is where we part ways."

If he could get outside, he would have enough room to open a Gargantua. From there he'd have a better shot of getting the brat back to his shinigami friends in one piece. Of course, he'd be caught and killed either way. If not by the shinigami, by Aizen himself. He was going against his orders by snatching the kid and running, but Grimmjow wasn't exactly known for following directions.

Hurrying down another hall, the blunet growled as he was quickly greeted by a dead end. Just as he turned around to try another route, he was greeted by Ichimaru smiling widely at him.

"Maa, why don't ya give up this silly chase and hand him over?" he questioned, smile not faltering in the slightest.

"Blow me," the Sexta responded, a smirk tugging at his lips as he turned and fired a quick cero, blasting a hole in the wall.

The new path unfortunately led him directly to Ulquiorra and Hallibel. "This is pointless," the blonde sighed, arms crossed.

Just as Ulquiorra stepped forward, his hand moving to his katana, a blade shot forth and collided with Grimmjow's side. The blunet was knocked back, dropping Ichigo in the process. Nnoitra pulled his weapon back, cackling loudly as he did so.

"Woo, I've been waitin' fer the day that I'd get ta kill ya!" he exclaimed happily.

Grimmjow rolled onto his hands and knees, blood pouring from the long wound, as he tried to get to his feet to get to Ichigo before someone else did. Thankfully he didn't have to move at all as the orangette had hurried over to him, eyes wide and starting to gloss over.

"Kitty," he whimpered.

"Don't worry about me kid," the blunet smirked. "I've suffered much worse than this."

Allowing the child to cling to his neck once more, Grimmjow moved to unsheathe Pantera. As much as he didn't want to admit it, all he needed was an opening and then he'd be able to get the kid out of there before having to face his punishment. Before he could fully unsheathe his kanata, Ulquiorra rushed in. Their swords collided with a resounding clang before they broke apart, only to clash against each other once more. Unfortunately, Grimmjow not only had to fend off the Cuarto's advances, but Nnoitra's weapon as well. Hallibel and Ichimaru seemed content with just watching.

Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew the tiny black object he had swiped from Szayel's room earlier and quickly used sonido to get behind and above Ulquiorra. Green eyes widened as the black object slowly fell into his hollow hole. Suddenly a large black box of reishi surrounded the Espada, completely concealing him before disappearing. Nnoitra's eye widened for a moment before he shot in right after, hoping to catch Grimmjow off guard. He was unlucky as the blunet rushed in, surprising him. He jerked his weapon back, unable to see it's trajectory as Grimmjow was directly in front of his face smirking widely. Before the sword could hit him, the blunet flitted out of the way, leaving the weapon to collide with the Quinto's face, knocking him unconscious.

"Now I know how Ichigo knocked you out," he chuckled.

Blue eyes shifted to Hallibel who had yet to move from her vantage point. He knew she wouldn't attack. The woman had moral and honor to uphold. She wouldn't attack Grimmjow as long as Ichigo remained on his back. That only left... His eyes shifted around the room quickly searching for the sneaky silver haired bastard.

"Ikorose, Shinsou."

Grimmjow quickly turned on his heel and watched in slow motion as the short sword elongated and headed straight for him. There was no way he could dodge the attack aimed at his head in time. It would pierce his skull and then the child's clinging to his back. He should have taken the bastard out first. It was too late now. If only he had left the brat back in the sands during their fight he could be relaxing right killing some hollows or shinigami.

"Enough," a deep voice sternly commanded.

Cyan orbs widened slightly as the sword stopped mere centimeters from his face. A bead of sweat trickled down his brow and the Sexta turned to the hall as the clacking of footfalls echoed.

Aizen entered the room, a smile on his face as he took in the scene before him. "You were right Gin," he said, halting his movements. The ex-captain withdrew his zanpakutou and sheathed it. "It seems it would be in our best interest to allow Grimmjow the privilege of watching over Ichigo. After all, I'd rather not lose what little Espada we have left."

Furious, Grimmjow turns completely to face their leader, wincing slightly as the wound on his side suddenly stings. "You mean this was all just some stupid test?!"

The brunet smiled. "Of course. I couldn't very well have you going in knowing it was a test. You wouldn't have been able to properly prove your devotion to the child for me."

Grimmjow growled lowly in his throat as Aizen and Ichimaru exited the room, followed quickly by Hallibel. His rage boiling at being made a fool of pooling into his hand. Finally bursting, the blunet let out a wild yell before blasting the cero through the opposite wall.

* * *

 

It had taken a bit of work to get his wound to stop bleeding, but the Espada was successful in doing so. It would only take a few more hours for the wound to close up entirely leaving no trace behind. Cyan eyes shifted to stare at the fluffy head of orange playing quietly with some gauze he had found lying around in Szayel's lab. As if sensing his gaze, Ichigo turned his head upward, his amber eyes staring questioningly at the blunet. A small smile tugged at the corners of Grimmjow's mouth before he reached down to rub the toddler's head, messing up his already messy hair.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was glad Aizen was merely testing him. He knew it would have ended much differently if he truly wanted the kid dead. They probably wouldn't have even been given the head start, let alone a warning. Aizen would have most likely done the deed himself.

He watched quietly as he saw a chubby hand reach up and rub an eye tiredly as a soft yawn consumed his small round face. Grimmjow smirked. At least Ichigo had managed to wear himself out so the already tired and aching Espada wouldn't have to. Standing, he led Ichigo out of the lab and toward their room.

It wasn't until they arrived at the doorway that he remembered what had started the entire incident in the first place. Eyes scanning the room, he determined it would definitely be uninhabitable for the time being. At least the water had stopped spraying everywhere. Of course, not until after the room was good and flooded though.

Sighing, Grimmjow turned to look for another place to crash for the night; a tired Ichigo lagging a bit behind. Their best bet would be to swipe the room of a deceased Espada. Grimmjow instantly ruled out Szayel's room as it was in his labyrinth of a laboratory. He did not want to have to deal with the possible explosion resulting in the child playing there. He knew that both the 9th and 7th were taken out by shinigami.

The two walked slowly to the lower Espada's quarters. The closest room was Aaronierro's room. Opening the door, the two peeked inside only to be greeted with vast darkness. Grimmjow's large hand felt around for a switch for some sort of light, but found none. He looked to the orangette who was now rubbing both eyes tiredly.

"Don't suppose you could deal with pitch black all the time?" he asked.

Ichigo furiously shook his head. Closing the door, the two headed toward their next option; Zommari. His was down a different hall, but they arrived there quickly enough. As the Sexta's large hand wrapped around the knob he turned to see the kid lagging quite a bit behind. Opening the door, he stuck his head in before quickly pulling it back out and shutting the door loudly.

"No, no way in hell," he breathed.

Zommari's room was filled with numerous burning candles as well as hundreds of those creepy eyes painted all over the walls and floors. A shudder ran down the Arrancar's spine. He knew the guy was creepy, but not to that extent. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair before turning his gaze back to the shinigami brat. A soft chuckle escaped him as the kid had passed out on the floor in the middle of the hall. Stepping quietly, he moved to collect Ichigo. He wasn't sure if shinigami could get sick the same way humans did, but he really didn't want to find out.

The blunet began heading for Hallibel's room. At least he knew she would let the kid sleep in her room until he could get his fixed up. Just as he reached the hall containing the top three Espada's rooms, a familiar shaggy head of brown exited one of the rooms.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Starrk questioned as he suppressed a yawn.

"Gonna see if Hallibel will let the brat sleep in her room. He wrecked mine so there's no place for him to sleep." Grimmjow resisted the urge to shift his feet. Although he wasn't entirely sure why, the Primera always made him feel uneasy when it was just the two of them.

"Ah," the brunet yawned as he stuffed his hands into his pockets before walking toward the throne room. "You can have Barragan's room," he called back. "Killed by shinigami."

Grimmjow watched as the Espada disappear down the hall before he turned around and continued walking, passing Hallibel's room in the process. Stopping in front of the Segundo's door, he took a deep breath and shifted the toddler in his arms before opening the door. Cyan eyes widened at the beautiful sight before him.

Now Grimmjow had always considered himself a king. However Barragan had apparently lived like a king. The massive four poster bed was large enough so that all the remaining Espada could lie on comfortably. The door to the bath was open and from what he could see it was set into the floor and was more like a swimming pool than a tub. There were large cushions spread all across the floor as well as an entire white sofa set. Mindlessly entering the room, Grimmjow gentle plopped Ichigo onto one of the many cushions before flopping head first onto the large bed, passing out almost instantly.

* * *

 

Dilated blue eyes slowly peeled open. Grimmjow was unsure as to what had caused him to be pulled from a dead sleep in the darkened room and he didn't really care to find out what it was. Closing his eyes, he burrowed deeper into the plush bed, slowly drifting back to sleep. Just as he was on the brink of blissful sleep, a soft whimper snapped him back to consciousness.

"What the hell?" he grumbled as he sat up and rubbed at his eyes.

The whimper sounded again, followed by rustling and a pain filled moan. Growing worried, the blunet moved off the comfortable bed and scanned the room. His gaze fell onto the cushion he had set the child on previously. He slowly approached the orangette, his eyes never leaving the boy.

Ichigo was curled up tightly on the cushion, his small hands clinging tightly to the fabric of his hakama. He was trembling, whether it was from whatever ailed him or he was cold, the Espada wasn't certain. Grimmjow moves to retrieve a blanket from the bed, in hopes of settling the child without waking him, but stops as the shinigami parts his lips, a single word falling from his lips.

"Mom..."

It's then Grimmjow notices the tears staining his cheeks. Reaching out, he gently wakes the toddler, his breath catching in his throat at the sad and pain filled look in those large amber orbs. Something happened to the kid, something awful. Pushing his curiosity aside, he collects the quietly sobbing orangette. Ichigo clings tightly to the Sexta, his face buried in his chest. Grimmjow settles onto the bed, Ichigo burrowing into his side as the two drift back into a peaceful slumber.

 


	6. Back to Normal?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo seems to be his normal self once again causing Grimmjow even more trouble.

Amber eyes slowly fluttered open, spotting bright blue gazing mischievously back at him. Eyes falling shut, the orangette began to fall back into slumber, for just a moment. When his sleep addled mind finally placed those shockingly bright blue eyes, his own snapped back open.

"Morning Shinigami," Grimmjow grinned ferally.

A loud, rather unmanly, scream echoed off the vast walls of Las Noches. Ichigo leapt from the bed, taking the sheet with him as he barely managed to scurry away from the apparently excited Espada, narrowly dodging a cero in the process. What the hell was going on? Why was he sleeping next to the deranged arrancar bent on destroying everything in sight? As he rounded the corridor, he could hear the blunet's insane laughter echoing after him.

"Oh god I missed this!" he bellowed, giving chase to the seemingly recovered powerful shinigami. At first he thought he was still dreaming when he spotted that slender face just a short while ago, but when those narrow amber orbs had opened, clouded with sleep, the blunet could no longer resist. "Come on shinigami! Stop running and fight me!" Grimmjow shouted, blasting another cero, causing the orangette to trip.

Ichigo scrambled to his feet, eyes widening as the sheet began to slide off revealing more smooth tanned skin than he would have liked. "I'm naked!?" he screeched, pulling the sheet up. "Why the hell am I naked!?" This just didn't make any sense at all. So not only had he apparently been sharing a bed with that bastard, he had also done so naked. They didn't... Did they?

His face turned bright red as the teen burst through the large doors leading to the meeting hall. He was quickly becoming cornered and they both knew it. The fear of possible dying, naked mind you, was enough to snap Ichigo out of his stupor. Scowling, his gaze quickly swept over the hall, looking for a weapon of some sort. Immense relief washed over the shinigami as he spotted Tensa Zangetsu on the large table. Not wasting any more time, he dove for it, turning just in time to block Pantera from burying itself deep in his chest.

"Not bad," Grimmjow smiled ear to ear, his unusually sharp canines saying hello. "Here I was worried you had gone rusty being a kid the past few days."

"Kid?" he blinked in confusion momentarily, before pushing those thoughts, and the blunet aside.

Swords continued to clash for a few moments, before Ichigo felt himself growing more and more tired. His vision began to blur and he was panting heavily. Grimmjow thought that maybe it was far too soon for a fight with the shinigami, but couldn't stop himself at this point even if he wanted to. Charging in, he prepared to do some heavy damage with an up close cero, one that would be difficult to block even for the powerful teen. The blunet could stop his smile from widening as Ichigo pulled back, preparing to unleash his trademark Getsuga Tenshou. However, things would not go as planned. Just as the mixture of shinigami and hollow energy began to pool into the katana, there was a quick puff of smoke, the metal clanging against the cold tiled floor loudly as Ichigo reverted back to a toddler.

Cyan orbs widened, unable to stop his attack as a head of orange poked out from the sheet, looking bewildered. Just as the cero released from his hand and barreled straight toward the brat, a wall of reishi seemingly blocked it, the cero fizzing out with an audible pop. Grimmjow looked off to the side as his feet connected loudly with the floor.

"Were my orders not clear enough Grimmjow?" the brunet questioned, his lips forming a tight line.

Said Espada swallowed hard. "He turned back. I swear!"

Aizen sighed, moving over to the toddler tangled in the sheet. "Perhaps you were hallucinating. I understand your desire to finish your fight with Kurosaki, however, you must control that urge. You might accidentally kill him before we can fully use him."

Grimmjow groaned heavily at this. He had more self-restraint than everyone gave him credit for. Okay, so maybe that chair had caught him on a bad day last week. If it hadn't caused him to trip, he wouldn't have been forced to cero the damn thing.

The former captain sighed as he collected the child before handing him over to his Sexta. "Don't withdraw your zanpakutou on him again or I'll have Ulquiorra babysit you as well."

A single blue eyebrow twitched at this threat. He really hated that raven haired bastard and he'd be damned if Aizen would put him through that kind of torture. He'd readily hand himself over to the shinigami before that happened. With a huff, he gazed down at the orangette he held awkwardly. He was still clothed in the white uniform Ichimaru had shoved him into the previous day. Maybe he had imagined the whole thing...

His anger and frustration with the tiny shinigami returned tenfold as a tiny finger poked his uncovered cheek roughly as he giggled. With a huff, Grimmjow tucked the brat under his arm and headed back toward his new lavish quarters.

* * *

 

The meeting hall was stuffy, filled with numerous voices bickering back and forth. Various states of injury existed in all the captains present, except for the three that went to Hueco Mundo. They had sustained absolutely no injuries... Well Kenpachi had, but that man was a brick wall and it would take more than some lousy Espada to force him into bed rest.

"I knew it!" the second division captain shouted. "We should have killed that brat when he first came to Soul Society!"

"Oi," Kenpachi snapped. "Don'tcha think that's a bit harsh? Kid's incredibly strong. It would've been a waste to destroy such raw talent."

"Ah, but he's caused us a lot more trouble than benefit in the long run," a disgruntled Hitsugaya added. It wasn't that he wanted Ichigo killed or anything, but he wasn't really too much of an asset to them anymore.

"Come on, cut the kid some slack," Kyouraku chimed in. "I'd like to see you juggle being a shinigami daikou and a 15 year old boy at the same time."

His partner in crime, Ukitake, chuckled lightly at this. "I do find it odd that Kurosaki-san seemed to miss out on the final battle. Perhaps-"

A loud thump echoed in the hall, effectively silencing the shinigami captains. "Where is Kurosaki Ichigo?" Yamamoto bellowed his features stoic as ever.

"I did not see him as I was healing the others," Unohana replied.

"Kuchiki-taichou?" the old man's eyes shifted ever so slightly to the right side of the room where the soft spoken captain stood.

"After locating Abarai-fukutaichou, we were able to successfully rescue the human, Inoue Orihime," he paused, as his eyes slid shut for a moment before opening again. "However, we could not locate Kurosaki Ichigo."

Silence fell over the room. This was unexpected. Usually the fiery orange haired teen was never too far from the battle at hand. Unohana was specifically sent to Hueco Mundo with the others to heal him so that he could lend his incredible strength to the captains in the final battle. Add to the fact that even though Aizen was winning, painfully so, he seemed to retreat before accomplishing his goal. The brunet had obviously known the town they fought in was a mere copy; a fake. Even so, he still fled with most of his Espada still intact while the shinigami were left in shambles.

"Something is amiss," the head captain muttered softly.

"He must still be in Hueco Mundo," a new voice blurted out. All eyes turned to the open doors to see the auburn high school girl standing there. "I was the last one to see Kurosaki-kun!" she shouted as guards snatched her and began to drag her out.

Yamamoto's attention was completely devoted to her at this point, wanting to hear what valuable information she had. "Speak," he demanded, the guards releasing her in turn.

"Kurosaki-kun was fighting against Grimmjow, err, an Espada in his released form." The girl took a deep stilling breath. It was quite intimidating to be talking in front of all those powerful shinigami captains. "Kurosaki-kun took a hit and flew across the sand. However, when the smoke cleared he was gone. Only his clothes were left behind. The Espada seemed panicked afterward and fled, carrying something in his arms."

"That is most unusual indeed," Yamamoto replied. "I fear the attack on Karakura may have just been a ruse in order to obtain the shinigami daikou." His eyes closing in thought briefly. "It seems it is our turn to do the rescuing for once." His gaze shifted back over to the sixth vision captain. "Kuchiki-taichou. I will give you a week to gather shinigami willing to storm Las Noches in order to further investigate the whereabouts of Kurosaki Ichigo. Zaraki-taichou will join you as well." His cane slammed loudly against the floor, signaling the end of their brief meeting.

* * *

 

Grimmjow stared in surprise after hearing the little brat sneeze. He'd never admit it out loud, let alone to himself, but it actually sounded incredibly cute. He couldn't resist the smile that formed as he watched the toddler wipe his nose on his long sleeve. "Oi," he called out, successfully garnering the kid's attention. "What do you wanna do?"

Ever so cutely, a small hand rose up to Ichigo's face, a single finger resting against his chin as his large doe-like eyes gazed at the ceiling in thought. After a moment, a bright smile broke out on his face. "Hide!"

The blunet blinked a bit confused at this statement. "What's the point in that?" Huffing, Ichigo hopped from the large sofa and moved over to the ridiculous sized bed. Climbing up, he crawled over to the Espada and covered his eyes with his small hands. "The hell do you think you're doing brat?" he growled.

"Count!" the orangette ordered.

"Err... Okay." Well this was new. Might as well just go with it to kill some time. "How high?"

Removing his hands, the boy smiled brightly again, which caused Grimmjow's heart to skip a beat. No it didn't. He swore it didn't. Besides, he didn't have a heart. Being hollow and all meant no heart.

"A million!"

That would take an hour at least! "I ain't countin' to a million brat." There was a pause as that chubby face visibly fell in disappointment. "How bout 10, yeah?"

Ichigo nodded happily and hopped from the bed. Grimmjow started to count as he watched the brat look around the room curiously. When he turned and noticed the blunet was watching him intently, he scowled. "No cheating!"

Cyan orbs blinked in surprise. Well that had been highly unexpected. How was he cheating? He told him to count after he... Oh! Maybe he was supposed to cover his eyes? Bringing large sun-kissed hand up, he covered his eyes, peeking through his fingers to make certain this was what he was supposed to do. He was not expecting the pillow to collide with his face.

"No cheating!" Ichigo cried again.

"Okay okay," Grimmjow smiled. No, he smirked. He did not smile for that brat. Internally growling, he started counting over again. "Okay now what?" he questioned the kid when he reached ten. When there was no reply, he uncovered his eyes and looked around curiously. "Now what brat?" Still silence. His eyes spotted a tiny little foot sticking out, just slightly from behind the couch. Using sonido, because he really wanted to scare the kid, a ferally grinning Grimmjow appeared suddenly behind the orangette. Bending over, he grabbed the brat by the back of his top, hoisting him up and relishing in the startled squeak that emitted from his pale pouty lips.

"Found me!" Ichigo squealed happily.

"Yeah, and? Why were you hiding?" This brat, although amusing, confused the hell out of him more often than not.

"Game," the youth replied. "I hide. You count."

Oh it was a game huh. Well, Grimmjow was never one to back down from a challenge. Setting the child down, he moved back to his spot on the comfortable bed and continued with his role of hunting. After a couple rounds, the Espada stopped moving from the bed as it was starting to get boring. "In the closet," he said suddenly. This was followed by another exclamation from the toddler before he emerged. After more counting, the blunet sighed as he shifted to hang over the edge of the bed, peering under the furniture. "This is getting boring," he deadpanned.

Ichigo huffed as he crawled out from under the bed. "No fun," he grumbled.

"Oh yeah, I'm just some huge stick in the mud," Grimmjow retorted. "If ya really don't like fun, hang with Ulquiorra. That guy does nothing but read." The blunet rolled onto his back, his head dangling over the edge of the bed, messy blue locks becoming messier by default. Suddenly, without warning, soft small lips press lightly against his own. Blue eyes impossibly wide, Grimmjow bolts upright on the bed, turning his bright red face to glare at the child. "What the hell!?"

"Berry loves kitty!" he shouted happily, smiling ear to ear.

Blush darkening, Grimmjow leapt from the bed and rush out of the room, hand covering his inflamed cheeks. That... That brat just had to go and do something so embarrassing like that. What the hell was he thinking!? Not paying attention to where he was storming off to, the Espada bumped into the last person he wanted to see.

"Your face is red," Ulquiorra deadpanned, stating the obvious.

Grimmjow's cheeks seemed to darken at this, the kiss still lingering in his mind. "Shut the fuck up!"

The cuarto sighed. "Where is your charge?"

"What?"

Another sigh. "Kurosaki Ichigo. Where is he?"

"Back in my room."

"Are you certain?"

Grimmjow growled, his anger quickly making his flushed cheeks return to normal. What the hell was this guy's issue? Of course the brat was in the room right where he left him. He even shut the... Oh god. Turning on his heels quickly, he sped back to the large bedroom, cursing under his breath at the partially open doorway. When he peeked inside, he wasn't the least bit surprised to see that the toddler was nowhere in sight. Shoulders sagging, Grimmjow sighed heavily.

"Dammit," he grumbled. This child was going to be the death of his sanity... Well, the sanity he had anyway.

A pale hand rested on his shoulder, green eyes almost gloating at him. He hated when that bastard was right and he always seemed to be right. "Shall we go look for him?"

With another heavy sigh, Grimmjow relented and the search for the berry brat was on once again.

 


	7. Pain in the Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More fun for Ichigo. Not so much for Grimmjow.

The pair of Espada scoured the immediate area. They even went so far as double checking the bedroom to make sure they hadn't overlooked the small orangette. However the longer their search drug on, the more hopeless it was looking. After they had finished checking Szayel's lab, at least what they could access anyway, Ulquiorra finally spoke up.

"Shall I gather up the remaining Espada to search for the boy?" he questioned.

Grimmjow seemed to mull over the idea for a moment. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, there was a resounding boom throughout the fortress. With a quick glance to the cuarto, the blunet gave a quick nod before the two hurried off using sonido to reach the location of the sound. As the unlikely pair grew closer, they found themselves under the warm rays of the false sun, the sand warm under their quickened feet. When they finally found the location the sound had come from, Grimmjow was relieved to see Ichigo standing in the sand waving his zanpakutou around wildly. A girl roughly his size with short teal locks stood off to the side laughing obnoxiously. The sexta didn't exactly recognize the small arrancar.

Another explosion sounded and it's then cyan eyes discover what the pair of children are doing. Ichigo is managing to fire off his trademark attack at the nearest tower. A tower Grimmjow recalls quite clearly being that of Szayel's.

"Hey!" Grimmjow shouted as he neared the pair. "Knock it off!"

Ichigo turned his big doe brown eyes to the other, a curious look on his face. However, whatever the Espada was trying to accomplish by stopping them was in vain. One last attack crashed into the tower leaving a gaping hole in its wake the moment the smoke cleared. Within moments, hundreds of starving hollows emerged and quickly surrounded the now frightened children.

“Dammit!” Grimmjow shouted as he hurried over to the pair, a bit surprised to see Ulquiorra jumping in to help as well. “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted over the roaring hollows at the raven haired Espada.

“We’ll be punished should anything happen to the child.”

It takes but a few moments for the pair to dispatch of the group of hollows. After which the blunet turns to inspect Ichigo for any wounds. Upon finding the toddler unharmed, he released a puff of air as the tension drained from his shoulders.

“Look kid,” he started, cyan eyes pleading with the small child. “You gotta stop running off. I like being in one piece so just stay where I tell you to and stop destroying shit ya?”

Brown eyes blinked curiously before laughter erupted from him. Ichigo raised Zangetsu, ready to fire off another one of his trademark attacks, but is stopped by Grimmjow; the Espada easily grabbing the zanpakutou in mid-swing.

“The fuck did I just get done telling you!?”

A sniffle followed by watery eyes has the arrancar suddenly regretting his actions. Before much else can happen, the small arrancar girl stepped in the way to defend the orange haired child. Without warning, she kicked up a large amount of sand, temporarily blinding Grimmjow.

“Are you serious!?” he growled loudly, rubbing furiously at his eyes.

The girl turned to run, but was snatched by pissed off Grimmjow. Ichigo managed to get some distance thanks to his friend’s attack, but was grabbed easily by Ulquiorra thanks to a quick sonido.

* * *

 

Aizen sat in the main hall, relaxing in his throne as he sipped at some tea. However the moment does not last as a large explosion caused him to nearly drop the hot tea. Giving a heavy sigh, he schools the surprise from his face as he recognizes the two approaching reiatsu.

“I should have known,” he groaned softly.

The door is violently flung open. The brunet managed to hide the surprise he felt upon seeing the two usually quarreling Espada each carrying a child. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“We found the shinigami boy and this arrancar girl playing with the boy’s zanpakutou outside,” Ulquiorra quickly explained. “They managed to destroy one of Szayel’s towers. Several of his experimented hollows resided inside. We managed to dispatch them and there appears to be no injuries.”

A soft sigh escaped the former captain before reiatsu began to beat down on Grimmjow. He was forced to release the girl as he dropped to his knees. “I gave you the task of watching over Kurosaki Ichigo because I thought you could keep him safe with your desire to fight him once more. Do you dare tell me I was wrong in that assumption?”

“Of course not,” the blunet gritted out as he fought against the immense pressure bearing down on his back. He nearly collapsed when the pressure was suddenly increased.

“You seem to be less than competent in caring for the child,” Aizen continued as he shifted in his throne.

“It won’t happen again.”

“Very well.”

Aizen let up on the pressure and Grimmjow took a deep breath in response. After a moment, he managed to collect himself enough to stand. The ex-captain stood from his throne and began to descend the stairs toward the Espadas. His gaze fell to the small arrancar standing near Grimmjow. Turning his attention back to Grimmjow he spoke.

“It seems you cannot keep Ichigo entertained enough to keep him out of trouble. The boy seems to be in need of a playmate.” He glanced to the girl again before turning his full attention to the Sexta. “So that is why you will be forced to tend to this girl as well as Ichigo.”

“There is no way I’m-” Grimmjow stopped abruptly upon feeling a light wave of reiatsu dancing along his shoulders.

“You are the one who insisted on looking after the boy as if he were your own. Anything pertaining to Ichigo is now your responsibility.”

Grimmjow withheld the urge to growl at the powerful shinigami before him. “Fine,” he spat.

Aizen dismissed the group with a wave of his hand. Ulquiorra turned to Grimmjow and handed the toddler back over to him before leaving the main room. With a heavy sigh, the blunet snatched the girl and carried her under his arm out of the main hall and toward his room.

“So what do I call you kid?” he asked the girl.

“Nel!” she chirped back. “It’s cool dat Itsygo is small. Now he can have a ton of fun with Nel!”

Cyan eyes blinked. “You knew him before this happened?”

“Yup! Itsygo didn’t really wanna pway den, but now he does!”

Another heavy sigh escaped the arrancar. This was going to be the death of him. As soon as they arrived, he tossed the children onto the large pillows before flopping heavily onto his own bed.

“Kitty?” Ichigo questioned as the sound of tiny footsteps approached him.

“Go to sleep brat,” he growled.

“Your name is Kitty?” Nel questioned as she too trotted over to the bed.

“No! It’s Grimmjow!” the blunet raged. These children obviously had no intention of letting him sleep.

“Grimmy!”

Cyan eyes shot open and widened. Sitting up, he turned and faced the happy girl. There was only one arrancar who ever called him that and she was supposedly dead. She appeared to be in the same situation as Kurosaki. Maybe if he could figure out what caused it with Nel, he could fix the kid and get his fight.

“Shit, Neliel what happened to you?” The girl cocked her head to the side curiously. “How did you wind up like this?” Pink eyes blinked at him in confusion. “I should have known.” Of course her memory was warped. Things just couldn’t be easy for him for once. “Forget it, just go sleep on the pillows.”

Instead of listening, the pair climbed up onto the bed. “What the hell are you doing?” the Espada growled.

“We wanna sweep on da bed with Grimmy!”

He soon leapt from the bed and made his way over to the sofa. Today was just not his day. “Go to sleep brats.” The pair curled up under the blanket together leaving Grimmjow to attempt getting cozy on the sofa enough to sleep. It was going to be a long night.

 


	8. Goodbye Sanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now having to deal with Nel as well, Grimmjow is about to lose his god damned mind.

Grimmjow is pulled from his restless slumber by the loud sounds of two children crying. Not one, but two. He could tell this day was going to be fantastic right off the get go. Blood shot cyan eyes scan the room for the children as they were no longer on the bed. He finds the pair over by his closet. Standing wearily, he headed over to them to see what the problem was.

“What the fuck is wrong with you brats?” he snarled.

Ichigo turned to him and held up the white fabric he had in his hands. Collecting the item, the Espada examined it in order to figure out what it was. It took a moment, but his eyes widened upon discovering it to be one of his spare jackets. Half of his said item to be precise. With a deep inhale through his nose, he tried to calm himself as he spoke.

“Wanna explain what happened Nel?”

The girl sniffled a few times before turning to face Grimmjow. “I was pwaying with this and Itsygo came over and wanted to pway with it too. I didn’t wanna share, but but but he kept pulling it. Then… Then… Then it ripped!” Her sobbing increased at this causing a vein in Grimmjow’s head to throb.

“Punch him in the face next time,” he ground out.

Another deep inhale and an idea struck him. Scooping both children under each arm, Grimmjow exited his room and made his way toward the meeting hall. Surely the other Espada would be there messing around. Perhaps that would keep them entertained. Upon entering the hall, the blunet stuffed a child into a separate chair before heading off to dig around for something to feed Ichigo.

In the meeting hall, Nnoitra was the first to notice the pair bouncing in their seats. His eye narrowed on Ichigo as he quickly planned out his revenge. With a dark glare, he charged toward the toddler, ready to strike him the moment he was close enough.

“Nnoitra,” a voice deadpanned before his path to the orangette was blocked. “Aizen-sama has stated he is not to be harmed.”

“Ya think I give a fuck bout what he says?” the Quinto retorted as he used sonido to get around Ulquiorra and right behind Ichigo. “Yer gonna pay fer what ya did ta me.”

Before he could wrap his long fingers around the boy’s neck, Ulquiorra appeared beside the other Espada. In the blink of an eye, Nnoitra was sent flying, his body colliding roughly with the doors forcing them open in the process.

“Do not make me repeat myself,” Ulquiorra threatened, his cold emerald eyes staring intensely at the Quinto.

Nnoitra glared and grunted before standing and exiting the hall to blow off some steam. He’d get the brat eventually. After a few moments of silence, Grimmjow returns to the meeting hall accompanied by Hallibel, the blonde arrancar carrying a bowl full of fruit. Without a word she sets the bowl in front of Ichigo before moving to sit across from him at the large table.

“Good morning Ichigo,” she said, face mostly hidden behind her top.

“Hi Fishy!” the toddler shouted happily.

Aside from a twitch of her eyebrow, Hallibel showed no other reaction to the nickname. Grimmjow also managed to refrain from laughing. He merely smirked widely in return. Silence surrounded the hall once more, Ulquiorra leaving the group behind as Ichigo began to eat the fruit. The boy turned and offered a banana slice to Nel. The girl collected the fruit, sniffed it, and then hurled it right back in Ichigo’s face.

Tension filled the air as both Espada waited to see his reaction. Would he cry or would he laugh? Doe brown eyes blinked a couple times before a scowl appeared on the toddler’s slightly pudgy face. Collecting a handful of fruit, Ichigo hurled it straight at Nel’s face. It took merely seconds for the children to become coated in the juice from the flying fruit. Once the bowl was empty, the pair laughed causing Grimmjow to sigh heavily at the sight of their mess.

“Go,” Hallibel ordered. “I’ll clean the mess here and you can bathe them.”

Growling lowly, the blunet collected the children, each under an arm once more, and carried them back to his room. Heading straight for the bathroom, he somewhat gently placed them in the tub before turning on the water and stripping them of their clothes.

Grimmjow was really started to regret agreeing to all of this. He should have left the brat in the sand.

After a few moments the tub is filled and the small ones start a splash war causing the area to be filled rather quickly with bubbles from the soap.

“Hey!” the Sexta shouted, reaching blindly at the pair in an attempt to stop them. “Can’t you two sit still for five fucking minutes!?”

Leaning forward into the growing amount of bubbles, Grimmjow continued to reach for either Nel or Ichigo whichever he could get his hands on first. That’s when disaster struck.

It all happened so fast. One minute he could feel a small arm, the next he found his head submerged under water. Righting himself as quickly as he could, the soap covered arrancar wiped furiously at his stinging eyes to locate the children. He heard a peel of laughter growing quieter by the second. Jerking his head to peer out the bathroom door, he spotted both kids making a run for it; soapy bubbles randomly coating each tiny body.

“Fuck me,” he grumbled before leaping from the tub and chasing after the pair.

Nel and Ichigo proceed to run through the halls of Las Noches, laughing and squealing loudly. Using sonido, Grimmjow managed to catch up to Ichigo. Unfortunately the second he grabbed him, the shinigami managed to slide free being far too slippery to hold onto.

“Dammit it all!” he swore loudly as the chase resumed.

Before he could manage to catch up to either child again, the doors to the main hall burst open, revealing a relaxing Aizen sipping on some tea. This time the ex-captain was unable to contain his surprise as the dark liquid shot out of his mouth in shock at seeing both nude children.

“Grimmjow,” the brunet growled in a sickly sweet voice. “This wasn’t what I had in mind when I asked you to entertain Ichigo.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t exactly plan this out either,” the Espada snapped back, still trying to catch one of the slippery demons.

Aizen’s brow twitched in anger. “Gin,” is all he muttered before a blur of white is seen before the children disappear from sight. Seconds later Grimmjow is sprawled on the tiled floor, gritting his teeth as he tried to stand under the immense pressure. “My dear Sexta,” the brunet starts, “You’re pushing your luck right now. I’m not sure I can withstand another interruption such as this. I’d to hate to have to really punish you.”

Approaching the crushed Espada, Aizen glared lightly from his position. “Are we understood?”

“Yes,” Grimmjow hissed out more so in annoyance than pain.

After a few more moments the pressure is let up off his back. The blunet takes a second to collect himself before standing and moving over to Gin who stood by the open doorway holding tightly to both naked children. Gin followed the worn down Grimmjow to his quarters where the children are rinsed, dried, and clothed in a short amount of time.

“Thanks,” the Espada grumbled to the silver haired shinigami.

“It wasn’t exactly my pleasure,” Gin retorted before turning and leaving the trio to their own devices.

All is quiet, much to the blunet’s relief. Just as he’s getting cozy on the sofa a whine sounded. So much for silence. Cyan orbs scanned the room locating the children on the other side of the bed playing with a pillow. At least it looks like they’re playing tug of war anyway.

“Mine!” Ichigo and Nel screeched in unison.

“Knock it the fu-” Before Grimmjow could finish his sentence, the pillow ripped in half; feathers flying everywhere. “Dammit!” he swore loudly. “Can’t you brats leave shit alone without breaking it for five fucking seconds!?”

The pair ignored him in favor of rushing over to play with Pantera who was resting against the wall. Grimmjow’s eyes widened considerably the moment he saw the pair grab an end of the katana and begin tugging.

“H-hey!” he shouted out in a panic.

Using sonido, he manages to stop Ichigo and Nel before another bad can happen to Pantera. With immense relief, he set Pantera over on the low table in front of the sofa before turning to the children once more.

“You guys are seriously pissing me off,” he started, trying to keep his voice relatively low so as not to make either one cry. “Look, since you obviously can’t be together without breaking something, specifically something of mine, I’m separating you. Neliel you go stand over on the left side of the room and-“

He stopped mid-sentence, gazing down at the squeezing sensation on his right leg. Large amber eyes gazed pleadingly up at the arrancar. “Ain’t gonna work brat,” he seethed. “You get the right side of the room. Go. Now.”

Begrudgingly, both children saunter off to their respected sides of the room, sitting down in each specified corner. Ichigo faced his corner which caused a brow raise from Grimmjow. When Nel followed suit, the blunet decided to just go with it. They were being quiet and far less destructive this way.

With a heavy sigh, Grimmjow flopped onto his bed, his body melting into the soft texture. He could feel his muscles relaxing immensely at the comfortable sensation under his hierro. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he muttered lowly.

Without meaning to, the Sexta drifted off in a light slumber, unaware of the danger looming on the horizon.

 


	9. Under Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Shinigami finally make their move.

Grimmjow was pulled from his deep state of sleep by the slightly rough rocking of his body. Cyan eyes wearily peered open angrily. The blunet prepared to give whoever woke him a nice verbal lashing. The threats died in throat the moment his sight landed on a rather serious looking brunet Espada.

“What is it Starrk?” he questioned as he sat up in his bed.

“The Shinigami have apparently made their move,” the brunet replied, stepping away from the rousing Sexta. “They’ll be at Las Noches doors in a short amount of time.”

Just as Starrk exited the room, Grimmjow remembered the two children he had separated. A quick look through the darkness confirmed both children were asleep where he had left them. Resisting the urge to smile, he moved to each corner and placed them gently in the bed. He sure was getting soft thanks to the brat. Face shifting into a dark scowl, he snatched Pantera and made his way to the main hall to receive orders from Aizen.

The hall was unusually quiet as Aizen stared down at them from his throne. No one dared to speak merely waiting for the ex-captain to fill them in on the situation.

“The Shinigami are just a stone’s throw away from Las Noches,” he started, his expression calm yet serious. “They are most likely here to finish what they could not in the war. We may be short a few Espada, but we still outrank them in power.” Standing, Aizen revealed his zanpakutou secured to his side. “Let’s give them a greeting they shall never forget.”

* * *

 

Large amber eyes slowly peeled open, blinking a few times at the first thing he saw. Nel was peering down at him, a wide grin on her chubby face. Sitting up, Ichigo cocked his head to the side.

“Grimmy went to pway wit da shinigami,” she said, smile still in place. “Now we can pway with whatever we want.”

This brought a smile to Ichigo’s face. Leaping from the bed, the pair hurried out of the room and began to run happily down the halls, laughing loudly as they did so. It was hard to tell if they were playing tag or if they were just running around. It looked like they didn’t even know exactly what they were doing. It wasn’t long before they ran past a room that had an eerie pink glow to it. Nel stopped first, followed by Ichigo who was curious as to why she stopped.

Backtracking, the small arrancar peered around the doorway to see inside the room. Once Nel had determined that it was safe to enter, she walked into the large room. When she realized the orangette had yet to follow her, she stuck her head back out of the doorway and waved for him to follow. Ichigo quickly joined her in the room.

It was a relatively plain and bare room except for the pedestal in the center housing a very special stone. Said stone gave off a light pink glow. That is until Ichigo entered the room. The strength of the glow seemed to intensify slightly. Nel’s eyes caught sight of this increase and turned to stare at her friend a bit in awe.

“Itsygo,” she started, “The rock glows bwighter if you get closer.”

The toddler cocked his head curiously to the side, blinking a couple times as he approached the pedestal. The glow did indeed increase in strength the closer he stood.

“Let’s pway with it.” Nel smiled brightly as she scaled the side of the stone pedestal in order to reach inside the container and grab the stone.

* * *

Something was off about the whole battle. Aizen stood back and watched the bloodshed before him. Yes, there was definitely something wrong. The shinigami outnumbered them, however they were hardly the strongest ones. Only Byakuya and Kenpachi were present captain wise. It were almost as if they were there as a distraction.

Brown eyes widening, he turned to the Sexta. “Grimmjow,” he ordered, voice just loud enough to carry over the sounds of the battle.

The blunet stabbed the shinigami before using sonido to appear before the former captain. “What?” he growled unhappily.

“The shinigami have likely discovered Ichigo’s absence and have come here to collect him,” Aizen replied. “Hurry back inside and bring me the boy.”

Gritting his teeth, Grimmjow sheathed Pantera and hurried off to find the orange haired toddler. He mentally prayed he was still sleeping on the bed in his room. However he was not surprised to find the bed empty upon arriving there.

“Why can’t things be easy for once?”

Was it so much to ask that the toddler stay put in one place? Apparently so.

With a heavy sigh and a low curse, the blunet rushed through the halls of Las Noches determined to find Ichigo before the shinigami did. That is, if there were other shinigami actually inside the vast palace looking for the boy. He really wanted to get back to the fight so finding the brat as quickly as possible was his goal.

Grimmjow checked every Espada’s bedroom, the main hall, and even the meeting hall, but the brat was nowhere in sight. If he didn’t love his hair dearly he would have pulled it out in frustration. The Espada was running out of time.

“Come on brat where are you!?” he shouted before resuming his search once more.

This time he trekked down a different hall, one where Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tousen had slept in. It was a gamble, but they weren’t anywhere else. If they weren’t there in one of the three rooms, then he had already been nabbed by the shinigami.

Teeth gritted, Grimmjow thoroughly searched the first room, which happened to be Tousen’s old room. He quite literally tore the room apart to ensure he wasn’t missing either one. The first room being a bust he moved onto the second one quickly. When Ichimaru’s room resulted in just another mess, he moved onto Aizen’s room. The room itself was barren and looked untouched save for the disheveled sheets on the bed.

“Dammit,” he cursed. It looked like the shinigami had gotten to him first after all. “Aizen’s gonna be pissed.”

Just as he turned to leave the room, he caught sight of an eerie pink glow. Moving toward the light, he spotted a hidden hall near Aizen’s bed. Bursting through the opening, he quickly spotted Ichigo and Nel in the small barren room.

“Finally,” Grimmjow breathed heavily. A wave of relief swept through him upon seeing the orange haired toddler still there. Turning to the small arrancar his expression turned serious. “Nel, stay put.”

The girl saluted the blunet as he collected Ichigo under his arm.

“C’mon brat,” he said before turning to exit the hidden room.

Wanting to get back to the fight, Grimmjow rushed quickly through the empty and silent halls. However when he peeked back in on the fight he was a bit shocked. Aizen and Ichimaru were nowhere to be seen, but the remaining Espada had been cornered.

“Where is Kurosaki Ichigo?” Byakuya questioned as he flower petals hovered threateningly in the air.

Hallibel, Starrk, and Ulquiorra remained silent, but Nnoitra couldn’t resist snapping back. “Killed him,” he said with a creepy smirk. “Not as strong as ya thought he was.”

“Yer lyin’,” Kenpachi retorted. “The kid’s reiatsu wouldn’t be all over ya if he were dead. It’s fresh too.”

The flowers seemed to close in around the group tighter. “I’ll ask again. Where is Kurosaki Ichigo?”

“Shit!” Grimmjow breathed quietly. He had to get them out of there and fast. Turning tail, he ran as fast as he could away from Las Noches, determined to keep the shinigami taking what was rightfully his.

 


	10. Hungry Hungry Hollows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grimmjow tries to get Ichigo to safety away from Las Noches and the Shinigami.

Grimmjow continuously used sonido to put a great deal of distance between Las Noches and themselves. The further away from the Shinigami the better. It took a bit of energy and time, but the blunet eventually stopped near the opening of a small cave. His breath came in light pants as he set the small child down in the sand, dropping to his knees to rest a bit. Grimmjow had used quite a bit of energy fighting off the invading Shinigami before Aizen ordered him to collect Ichigo.

Things weren’t exactly going according to the former captain’s plan. Anyone could see that much.

A tugging on his white hakama brought the Sexta out of his thoughts; forcing his attention onto the little boy.

“Kitty, hungry,” Ichigo slightly whined.

“Gotta deal with it brat,” he sighed back.

Grimmjow didn’t have any food on hand and he didn’t think to grab any on their way out as it was an impromptu escape. The only thing he could give the kid to eat would have been a hollow, but he wasn’t a hollow. Maybe a half, but only full blown hollows had the _stomach_ to eat another. Brat would probably starve to death rather than eat a soul. It was a pretty gruesome sight.

A small hollow appeared in the sand, approaching Ichigo. The boy crouched down and moved to touch it, but was stopped as Grimmjow grabbed his shoulder and pulled him roughly back. As a result Ichigo landed roughly on the sand, turning to glare at the blue haired jerk. Suddenly, the Espada unsheathed Pantera and stabbed the little creature. It gave a high pitched squeal before it stopped moving and eventually disappeared.

“Kitty mean!” Ichigo growled out as he moved over and punched Grimmjow behind his knee.

The blunet jerked a bit as he turned around to growl back at the toddler. “It was a parasite type hollow you idiot. Packs tend to send them out first to their prey in order to get a feel for their overall strength. The parasite relays the information back to its host before it can even be spotted.”

He should really stop thinking and just do right now. If that hollow was any indication, they could face an attack at any second.

“Come on brat,” Grimmjow ordered as he moved to grab the oranget. “We need to get before any more hollow show up.”

Ichigo shook his head and moved away from the arrancar. “No!” he snapped back. “Tired Kitty.”

“That sucks.” Grimmjow reached for the small child again only for him to step back. He could feel himself about to snap. Ichigo was naturally stubborn, but as a child he usually seemed more compliant with his orders. Grimmjow promptly told his brain to shut it before turning his attention back to the Shinigami. “Look, if we stay here for too much longer the shit’s going to hit the fan. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to be here when that happens.”

“Stay,” Ichigo replied, unmoving.

Did the boy know something he didn’t? Grimmjow wasn't given much time to contemplate this as a hollow suddenly burst forth from the sand directly behind Ichigo. It's large mask parted in an attempt to devour the small boy. Chocolate brown orbs widened as he struggled to get out of the way of Pantera in time. The hollow gave a cry as it's mask was pierced before it vanished in a dazzling display.

“Dammit!” Grimmjow growled as he grabbed Ichigo by the wrist and pulled him close. More hollow had appeared now surrounding the unlikely pair. “This is exactly what I was trying to avoid!”

Grimmjow quickly began to dispatch the hollow, making sure to keep a close eye on Ichigo. The last thing he needed was for the brat to be devoured. Ichigo was his prey dammit and he planned to keep the oranget around until he could end his life in a fair fight.

It seemed that for every hollow Grimmjow killed, two more would take the previous one's place. And they were getting stronger. Grimmjow was already weakened a bit from fighting the shinigami that had invaded Las Noches. He had to get them away from all these hollow, but it was nigh impossible. He had his hands full trying to keep Ichigo and himself alive let alone find an escape route.

Wiping sweat from his chin, Grimmjow gave his trademark laugh as he finally addressed the hollow around them. “You all must have a death wish trying to best the sexta espada!”

The only adjucha of the group gave a throaty laugh of it's own in reply. “Maybe not individually, but together we could easily kill you and then kill each other for the shinigami you protect.”

Without much prompting, the group attacked simultaneously. Grimmjow grit his teeth at this, suddenly regretting his own words. Maybe he did need to think before doing. No no. That was stupid. He'd gotten by just fine by doing rather than thinking. He'd get through this too. Hopefully with Ichigo still intact of course.

Although, the more his mind yelled at him, the more he realized it was pretty stupid to have left Las Noches. Yeah, the shinigami would have killed him upon finding him inside the gigantic fortress, but finding him would have been the hard part. Not to mention as soon as they located Ichigo, they would have left in peace. Probably... Maybe the shinigami would be able to figure out how to fix Ichigo so he could finish his fight.

Grimmjow was suddenly violently pulled from his thoughts as a hollow managed to slash it's way past him to snag Ichigo. “Dammit!”

“The shinigami child is mine!” it screeched happily.

Just as the blunet was turning in order to snatch the oranget back, a hollow leapt forward slashing into his left bicep. Grimmjow gave a hiss of pain as his left arm was now disabled from that attack. Hell, the damn thing was barely hanging on.

“Kitty!” Ichigo cried out fearfully.

Giving a guttural growl, Grimmow quickly dispatched the hollow in front of him before killing the one preparing to eat Ichigo. With the shinigami now safely at his side once more, Grimmjow switched from offense to defense. He was running out of strength fast with the blood pouring from his left arm.

After killing a few more hollow, Grimmjow fell to his knees. He no longer had the energy left to stand. Another defeated hollow after that had him collapsing completely.

“Kitty!” Ichigo cried out as he hurried up to the injured espada's face to get a better look.

“Run brat,” the blunet rasped weakly.

Unfortunately there was no time to run as all the hollow pounced at once. Ichigo gave a loud scream of terror as the hollow drew nearer to the pair. Suddenly, incredible amounts of reiatsu began to billow out around the pair, kicking up the sand in the process. Numerous hollow were killed as a result and more stepped forward for their chance.

Grimmjow's eyes opened again once the debris had settled down and the reiatsu seemed to level out. Cyan orbs widened slightly as his faltering vision was greeted with the sight of the normal Ichigo. He was topless and the white hakama was shredded, barely covering him. Tensa Zangetsu seemingly materialized in the teen's hand as he glared darkly at the hollow around them.

“Piss off,” he growled giving a flick of his wrist.

A weak Getsuga erupted from the zanpakutou easily destroying a handful of the hollow in front of him. The ones behind moved in to attack, but Ichigo merely turned and flicked his wrist again quickly dispatching those hollow as well. The rest of the hollow attacked in unison, determined to kill the shinigami. Ichigo grasped his sword with both hands and pulled it above his head.

“Getsuga tenshou!” he called out. The black and red energy cut through the air, easily destroying the remaining hollow.

Now safe, Ichigo's arms dropped to his side wearily; breath coming in heavy pants, Tensa Zangetus disappeared as he looked off to the side. Grimmjow followed his gaze, fighting to stay conscious as he did so. He wasn't sure who stood there, but it was an odd looking man with a bucket hat and stupid looking sandals.

“Heal him,” Ichigo suddenly said.

Grimmjow watched the oranget collapse forward into the sand as his body quickly reverted back to it's previous state of a small child. Damn, and here he was hoping it worked.

_Not that it matters,_ Grimmjow thought as his world slowly dissolved into black. He was dying right there in the sand after all. He should have just hid out in Las Noches and let the shinigami collect the brat...

 


	11. Safe For Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Urahara tries to get some answers out of Ichigo, but it doesn't exactly go the way he wants.

Grimmjow wasn't expecting to actually wake and even if he did he was expecting intense pain. Whoever the brat was talking to before he collapsed clearly followed through with the oranget's orders to heal him. Cyan orbs peeled open only to be greeted with a very dark room. He was able to see the wooden flooring and walls, but that was it. Only a minuscule amount of light seemed to be seeping in from under the wooden door. It was faint, meaning the room was likely sealed. The Espada had no idea how long he'd been out for, but if he had to guess it was likely a day at most.

Deciding to get up and explore, Grimmjow shifted his position only to quickly realize he was bound. He had the ability to move a bit, but not enough to get up and walk for the door. Giving a sigh, he felt something shift around his neck. Hand shooting up to touch the hard collar, he gave a growl.

“A limiter,” he spat angrily trying to futilely pry the thing off.

Without warning, the door suddenly opened slowly, forcing Grimmjow's pupils to contract from the sudden exposure to light. The blunet shifts his head to look away, unable to stare at the light pouring in. He wasn't sure, but he thought he caught a glimpse of green fabric and some weird looking wooden sandles.

“Mind sharing your name?” his captor questioned.

The Espada waited for a moment before giving a smirk as he finally adjusted enough to look directly at the bucket hat man. “Sexta Espada... Grimmjow.”

A somewhat devious smile greeted him back. “Well Grimmjow, you have some information I'd like to share with me.” Grimmjow clicked his tongue at this, not exactly willing to talk. At this, the man slammed a cane in front of himself. Grimmjow shuddered as he suddenly felt a subtle reiatsu filling the room. “I'd like to know what transpired in Hueco Mundo that caused dear Kurosaki-san to revert into a small child.”

“We fought,” was all the blunet gave in reply, narrowing his gaze slightly.

His interrogator did not seem to like this as his grey eyes, slightly hidden beneath his striped hat, seemed to narrow a fraction and resemble ice. “It would be a shame if you somehow made it back to Hueco Mundo after failing to protect Kurosaki-san from the shinigami coming to collect him.”

“I already told you, we fought.” Okay, mild threat, nothing to be too worried about. He could handle himself just fine in Hueco Mundo.

“With the limiter still in place,” he added.

“That's it.” Again, not a problem. Grimmjow was the king right? And as such the king could handle any obstacle.

The man looked to the side for a moment as he seemed to contemplate something. “Aah~ I can only imagine what kind of fun Aizen would have with his failure of an Espada wearing a limiter.”

That... That was actually quite frightening. Grimmjow may have hated thinking, but he was not entirely an idiot. Aizen would fuck him up, heal him, and then proceed to rinse and repeat until Grimmjow wished the former captain would grace him with death.

“We were... interrupted during our fight,” the blunet finally grumbled out.

“Interrupted how?” The blond's attention was now focused back on his captured Espada.

Grimmjow shifted a bit uncomfortable at this. “He turned back into a kid.”

“Elaborate.” Grey eyes widen slightly in curiosity.

“Fuck I don't know,” he snapped, irritated with the questioning. “I hit the shinigami really hard, he crashed into a pillar, and the next thing I know he had shrunk down into the brat he is now.”

“How long ago was your fight?”

“A few days I think,” the Espada gave with a shrug.

“What have you been doing since then?”

“Protecting that idiot from the other Espada and the bastard shinigami while trying to fix him.”

His interrogator seeming to choke on air momentarily before his eyes widened considerably as he leaned a bit closer. “Pardon?”

Grimmjow turned to fully glare at the blond. “Yeah I protected him. Brat is my prey and only I will get to kill him.”

There was a moment of silence between the pair before bucket hat gave a hearty laugh at this. Annoyance was clear on Grimmjow's face at such a reaction. “I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting a hollow to be possessive.” A few suppressed chuckles later had the man regaining his composure. “Did anything else occur while Kurosaki-san was under you _care_?”

A vein ticked on the blunet's forehead at the stressed word. He was clearly mocking him. That's okay. When he broke free of this wooden shack and managed to get the limiter off, he'd show that creepy guy a thing or two about Espada. “Aside from the brat causing problems for me nothing really happened.” Before the blond could speak, Grimmjow's eyes lit up for a brief moment. “He did revert back to his normal size once.”

“When?”

The blunet thought for a second before shrugging. “Second morning I think?”

Silence filled the room before the man in geta lifted his cane from the floor and giving the Espada a smile. “Thank you for your cooperation Grimmjow. I'll be back if I need anything else from you.”

“Hey wait!” Grimmjow snarled, but it was too late. The man was gone and the door was shut leaving him in darkness once more. “Dammit, let me out of here!” he yelled trying to break the seemingly unbreakable chains.

* * *

 

The sound of the Japanese door sliding open had the large man looking up from his current task of keeping watch over a certain orange headed boy that was sleeping soundly on a futon. “Did you actually get the hollow to speak?”

Giving a nod, the blond approached the pair to inspect the boy much more closely. “He was reluctant at first, but a bit of persuading had him giving up valuable information.” Removing the blanket, he continued his examination of the boy.

“Are you any closer to discovering the cause of all of this Urahara?” his friend asked the blond.

Grey eyes shut for a moment as he replaced the blanket over the sleeping child. “Unfortunately Tessai, I'm not certain what caused the reversion,” he sighed out. “I'm more concerned about his reiatsu right now...”

Ichigo's energy had been fluctuating constantly since Urahara found him in Hueco Mundo. It was almost as if his body were subconsciously releasing a distress signal. Very peculiar indeed. Reaching into his pocket, Urahara produced a reiatsu limiter, much like the one around Grimmjow's neck. He really didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention and if he allowed Ichigo's energy to reign free, that is precisely what would happen.

Snapping the device on, Urahara's shoulder sagged a bit. Soul Society was counting on him to fix this and he only hoped he could figure it out in time. There was no way Aizen would just hand him over like that if he had the oranget captive this entire time. No... Aizen was likely devising a way to collect the boy limiting Urahara's time on the matter.

* * *

 

It was some time later before amber eyes began to slowly peel open as the oranget roused from his slumber. It took mere moments before little Ichigo was bouncing around, ready to play. When Urahara heard the commotion and reentered the room, the little boy seemed to calm slightly as he mimicked Urahara by sitting at the small table. Ichigo shifted a bit before he seemed comfortable.

“Bucket hat!” he smiled happily at the blond.

Grey eyes blinked at this, curious as to how far Ichigo's mind had really gone. “Kurosaki-san, how much do you remember?”

“Bucket hat! Bucket hat!” he called out continuously with a bright smile.

“Do you remember who I am?”

Ichigo gave a furious nod at this. “Bucket hat!”

“Ah no,” the man smiled weakly. “I am Urahara Kisuke, a former-”

“Bucket hat,” Ichigo snapped back, his smile suddenly gone.

Urahara gave a shaky laugh as he decided to just go with small Ichigo's whims. “Yes Kurosaki-san, I'm bucket hat.” When the child was smiling once more, Urahara continued his prodding. “What happened in Hueco Mundo?”

The oranget sat silently for a few seconds before a serious look crossed his young features. “Save Princess.”

Urahara hummed in thought at this. He could be referencing his mission to rescue Inoue Orihime. That made the most sense anyway. This indicated he still seemed to be mentally aware of what was going on around him, even if he could only relay such information in a very childish manner.

“Alright, what about during your fight with that Espada?”

“Kitty?” Ichigo questioned back. Suppressing a chuckle at this, Urahara gave a small nod. The small child seemed to contemplate this, his expression changing a few times before finally he waved his tiny arms about. “Boom!”

Well this was a curious development. “Boom how?” the shinigami prodded using the child's wording.

Ichigo gave a hum at this. “Crash,” at this his hands hit the table, mildly startling Urahara. Waving his arms once again, he repeated himself. “Boom!”

This lined up with Grimmjow's answers. So the moment he seemed to revert to a small child was right after he blasted through the pillar. Interesting indeed. However before Urahara could come to a conclusion, he needed more information. “Did your mask break?”

“Mask?” the boy repeated slowly, unsure of what the blond meant.

“Your hollow mask.” At the blank stare, the shopkeeper quickly tried to dumb down an explanation. “That cool thing you do where you make a mask appear over your face.” Urahara emphasized his explanation with over the top movements.

“It broke,” Ichigo nodded.

“Completely?”

Silence surrounded them briefly before the oranget spoke again. “Food.”

“Pardon?”

“Food! Food!” Ichigo chanted as he stood and began to jump about.

“Ah, you must be hungry,” the blond sighed out. When the child demanded food again, Urahara groaned. “Yes, yes.”

A short while later had finger foods lay spread out on the table before Ichigo. It took Tessai some time to prepare things a child would and could eat. A sandwich cut into four small triangles, as well as some fruit, and a few rice cookies would have to sustain the child for now. Urahara watched carefully as Ichigo delighted in the food given to him. On the outside, he appeared to be like any other small child, capable of short replies and a short attention span. However on the inside he seemed to retain his fifteen year old mentality. If what Grimmjow said was true and he's been keeping watch over Ichigo, it would explain why the oranget ordered Urahara to heal him when the pair had been found.

How far did Ichigo's loyalty to this Espada lie? How far was the Espada willing to go for their dear substitute shinigami? Only time would tell at this point seeing as how Grimmjow wasn't exactly forthcoming with his information and Ichigo seemed incapable of giving a proper answer.

Noticing the boy was finished with his food, Urahara decided to try questioning him one more time. “Kurosaki-san,” he started getting the oranget's attention. “What does that Espada, Grimmjow, mean to you?”

At this Ichigo gave a wide bright smile. “Berry loves kitty!”

Urahara choked at this, not quite certain if it was his childish form translating or if the teenage boy trapped inside had indeed meant such a thing. “When you say love...”

“Play!” Ichigo smiled as he once again got up and began to bounce. “Play! Play!”

Releasing a heavy sigh, Urahara relents for now. Clearly this was going to be far more difficult than he had at first assumed.

* * *

 

Aizen once again sat on his throne overlooking his dwindling numbers. He still thankfully had his most trusted ally, Ichimaru, but his Espada were down to three. Hallibel, Nnoitra, and Ulquiorra. The brunet shifted to rest his cheek against his fist in boredom.

“It seems the shinigami were successful in retrieving Ichigo,” Aizen sighed.

“Grimmjow is missing as well,” Ulquiorra added having checked the entirety of Las Noches for the blunet.

“Pro'lly died to the shinigami,” Nnoitra shrugged.

Aizen could feel his irritation rising relaying such by increasing his reiatsu in the room. The occupants seemed to still at this, all eyes on him. “I have no doubt that an old acquaintance of mine has the boy.” He still needed Ichigo in order to win this blasted war.

“I can collect the child for you Aizen-sama,” Hallibel offered.

The former captain smiled, but waved her off. “He is likely too guarded to obtain right now. We'll need a more... _subtle_ approach.” At this a young girl moved out from behind Ichimaru. “Neliel, would you like to go play with Ichigo?”

Nel beamed up at the powerful man. “Nel wants to pway with Itsuygo!”

“Very well then.” At this Aizen gave a nod to Ulquiorra resulting in the opening of a garganta.

“Yay!” Nel shouted gleefully before charging toward the portal and disappearing inside it.

It was only a matter of time before Aizen reclaimed Ichigo. This thought brought a disturbed smile to the man's face.

 


	12. Science My Dear Tessai!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Urahara experiments with Ichigo in order to piece together what exactly happened to him.

Urahara had allowed the shrunken Ichigo to play around his shop for some time while he prepared the necessary equipment for his next form of interrogation. Seeing as how the oranget was far less than capable of giving him a straight-forward answer, the former captain decided scientific evidence would be the best route. Once he was ready, he informed Tessai to bring the shinigami child to his back work room. The large man was a tad confused, but obliged. Moments later found a still bouncy Ichigo attempting to sit patiently on a soft floor cushion.

“What exactly are you planning now?” Tessai questioned as he gazed at the numerous bizarre things gathered in the room.

“Science!” Urahara beamed while approaching Ichigo with what appeared to be a human toy.

Tessai merely shrugged at this and literally left the blond to his devices. Urahara connected his grey eyes with Ichigo's own amber orbs as he set the toy like object in front of the child. Removing the three plain blocks from the main box, he set them in front of the boy.

“Go ahead Kurosaki-san,” he urged. “I'm sure you can figure it out.”

Ichigo stared curiously at the strange blocks before collecting one in his hand. Looking at the box, the child leaned forward and placed the block on the section to the far right. Placing the rest of the blocks in the box had Urahara smiling. Each of the three blocks had been infused with a different type of energy. The first block he placed had been infused with a similar energy code to that of a hollow. The other a shinigami and a human. If he could readily tell the difference between the different reiatsu, then Ichigo's ability to sense remained in tact.

“Good good,” Urahara nodded as he moved the item aside. “Could you stand up for me?” When Ichigo slowly got to his feet, the blond smiled a bit. “This might be a bit uncomfortable, but bear with me.” Bringing his hand up, he quickly used a weak kido. “Way of binding number one; sai.”

Ichigo's arms quickly folded behind his back forcing the child into an odd hunched over position on the floor. Amber eyes glared up at the shopkeeper. This in turn resulted with Urahara's eyes widening ever so slightly. That was not quite a reaction he was expecting. This further pushed his theory that Ichigo was still the same mentally, just unable to reflect that entirely.

After a few moments like this, Urahara openly taunted the child. “Can't break it Kurosaki-san?” Withdrawing his fan, he tapped it a few times against the head of orange in an attempt to egg him on.

Grey eyes blinked as Ichigo released a frustrated cry after his arms struggled against the binding a bit. Feeling a bit sorry for the torture, Urahara quickly released the binding kido with a wave of his hand. Resisting the urge to chuckle as Ichigo turned his back to the former shinigami captain giving a firm pout, the blond felt it was time to move onto his other, far less than pleasant tests.

* * *

 

An hour later and Urahara was at his wits end with the boy. Not only was Ichigo proving to be a bit difficult in the behavior department for the tests, he wouldn't stop whining about wanting to play with  _ Kitty _ . Urahara could only deduce that he was referring to that blue haired Espada, Grimmjow. But he really had no discerning feline features that he knew of.

“Kitty!” Ichigo angrily demanded yet again.

Unable to cope with his tantrum any longer, the shinigami slapped the limiter back on the boy. “Run. Play. Do whatever you like,” he groaned.

The oranget let out a delighted squeal as he peeled out of the backroom, laughter echoing in the old home. Urahara sighed while rubbing at his temples with the tips of his rough fingers. This was proving to be quite the challenge and the blond could feel a headache looming.

“Your _science_ not go as planned?” Tessai teased as he peaked into the room.

Weary grey eyes gave a weak glare at the kido master. “Kurosaki-san is much more complicated to deal with in his regressed form.”

Tessai gave a nod at this as he moved to sit in front of the blond. “What have you uncovered with your testing?”

“Not much,” Urahara replied with a tired sigh. A short pause later had his grey eyes looking at his friend. “Kurosaki-san seems to be the same mentally, just unable to communicate as such. His reiatsu, although rather erratic, is very weak.” At this Tessai raised a brow curiously. “He was unable to break the weakest of binding kido nor was he able to do more than swing his zanpakutou around.” Cusping his chin in thought, Urahara released yet another more heavy sigh. “It's as if his soul has been severely injured and is trying to heal itself by using a minimal amount of energy...”

“Then healing kido should work,” the large man offered.

“I've already tried with no such luck.” Urahara even tried everything he could think of in an attempt to revert Ichigo temporarily as he saw happen in Hueco Mundo. But nothing worked.

The pair sat in silence for some time before a loud thud caught their attention. Both sighed in unison before Tessai got up to investigate. Once he left the room, Urahara gazed at his equipment around him. He clearly needed to run more tests on the boy to figure this out.

* * *

 

“Kurosaki-san,” Urahara happily called out finally emerging from the room after a few hours. He blinked curiously at the empty hall and the silent home. “Kurosaki-san?” he called out again.

Giving a sigh, the blond began his search for the small child. He finally managed to devise a few more tests that would be much more helpful than the previous set. Well... At least he hoped they would provide more answers rather than more questions. He needed to determine the cause of the fluctuation in order to fix it. That was the first step. After that, if the oranget still didn't return to normal, it would be much more simpler to discover the actual cause behind the reversion.

Urahara checked his tea room first. It's where they ate, most of the time anyway, and where he entertained guests. A quick inspection of the empty room had him moving into the candy shop portion of his home. Aside from Ururu and Jinta messing around while cleaning, there were no other occupants. Just before he closed the door to search the other rooms, a meow caught his attention. With a smile he crouched down to talk to the black cat.

“Perfect timing Yoruichi,” Urahara greeted. “You can help me look for Kurosaki-san.”

The cat tilted it's head before entering the home. Urahara slid the door shut after her allowing their investigation to begin.

“I'll check your under ground facility,” she said in her deep voice before prancing off.

She would be best suited to cover the large area quickly. She wasn't named the flash step goddess for kicks.

Urahara continued his search in the upstairs. He made sure to check all the bedrooms, the bathroom, and even the small storage areas. Yet their little shinigami was still nowhere to be found. The blond hummed in thought, a bit frustrated, as he decided to check all the rooms again. Perhaps he had overlooked something. Starting with the tea room again, he was a bit surprised to see Tessai sitting at the small table.

“Ah Tessai,” he sighed tiredly. “Have you seen Kurosaki-san?”

At this a relieved sigh greeted his ears. Urahara turned and finally noticed the other occupants in the room. Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya seemed to have stopped by. The poor captain looked as if he'd rather be elsewhere. He was likely forced into tagging along as a babysitter of sorts.

“So he's alright,” the raven haired shinigami breathed happily. So Rukia was the one to sigh in relief.

The former captain gave a shaky chuckle at this. Before he could reply to her statement, Renji jumped into the conversation.

“Sensing him should be pretty easy with his enormous amount of reiatsu,” the red head smirked.

At this, the red head's captain pointed out the obvious. “I did not sense his presence when we entered. Perhaps there is some reason for this.” Cold violet eyes turned to Urahara, silently demanding answers.

“Well yes, Kurosaki-san has a reiatsu limiter in place,” the blond supplied.

A cocked eyebrow later had Rukia and Renji assaulting him with questions faster than his mind could process. Waving his hands defensively in front of him, Urahara did his best to placate their worry for now.

“I assure you, he's fine.” At this he received a few skeptical stares. “Well... Sort of...”

“What do you mean sort of?” Rukia snapped.

“Soul Society needs to be informed of Kurosaki's current condition.” Violet eyes were glaring so harshly at Urahara he felt he would burst into flames any second.

“It's complicated,” Tessai added. “It would be better to show you.”

“After we find him of course,” Urahara mumbled.

This did not please the group of visiting shinigami. However before a group lynching could occur, Yoruichi appeared behind Urahara, smirking devilishly.

“Found him.”

Urahara exhaled in relief. Wonderful. Now he could get back to testing... Well after he showed Soul Society proof the boy was technically okay. Just not in a way they would expect per say.

“You're going to love this.” The tanned woman's smirk widened as she lead Urahara to his underground facility.

A bit of walking later had the pair standing outside of the wooden shack that held his captured Espada. Grey eyes stared curiously at the busty woman. Yoruichi merely gave a nod before moving forward and opening the door. Light instantly poured into the dark room. Moving the necessary distance, Urahara gazed inside only to find what she promised. Ichigo was indeed inside the shack, however he was being blocked from sight by the blue haired arrancar.

“This is a tad unexpected,” the blond said. A single step into the shack had Grimmjow glaring darkly at him as he growled lowly.

Yoruichi was unable to keep silent any further and burst out laughing from the scene. Urahara tried to calm her down, but it was useless. However, Grimmjow's words managed to silence her.

“What did you do to the brat?” he demanded.

Grey eyes blinked curiously at the possessive hollow. “I merely ran a few tests. It's none of your concern.”

Grimmjow did not like his reply in the slightest. “The brat is my prey,” he snarled.

Today had just been a huge train wreck for poor Urahara. If it wasn't one thing it was another. His mind pondered his current options before finally deciding on the one that would make everyone happy for the time being. Or at least it would be tolerable.

“How about a deal?” A blue brow rose in suspicion as this. “You can resume your roll as Kurosaki-san's caretaker, with the limiter remaining in place of course, and I will allow you to roam freely. With supervision.”

Grimmjow eyed the smiling man cautiously. “What's the catch?” This guy reminded him slightly of Aizen when it came to cunning and that bastard always had something else in mind when he made a supposed deal.

“You do whatever I tell you.” Urahara's grey eyes turned icy cold as he continued. “No questions.”

“That's it?” That was simple. Although he hated it, Grimmjow was technically doing that already with Aizen. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch for him to do it again. Though his unnerving gaze had him slightly questioning his quick decision.

With a nod from Urahara, the blunet gave a grunt. “Sure, why the hell not.”

“Yay!” Ichigo squealed happily as he maneuvered around Grimmjow. Smiling brightly at Urahara, he gave the blond a firm hug to his legs. “Bucket hat nice!”

The snicker to his right forced the man to sigh. He supposed the nickname did fit. Ichigo did refer to him by it often when they first met. Prying the child off his legs, Urahara moved to release Grimmjow's bindings. Once free, the blunet gave a languid stretch before Ichigo bounced back over to him.

“Up!” he demanded excitedly.

Grimmjow sighed, but quickly grabbed the oranget by the back of his collar and allowed him to sit behind his head. Tiny legs peaked out on either side of Grimmjow's neck as small hands found purchase on his wild blue locks. Urahara remained silent as he then led the group back upstairs.

Finally back in the traditional Japanese home, Grimmjow quickly lowered Ichigo to the tatami floor as he started squirming about. “Fucking brat,” he grumbled before his eyes widened and he turned to roughly grab Urahara's collar. Pulling him close, he glared darkly at the shinigami. “You set me up!”

“Why would I do that?” the shopkeeper replied, hands coming up to wrap around Grimmjow's wrists. Blue eyes widened as the former captain effortlessly removed the hands fisted in his collar. “When I can use you to my benefit?” A glare was the only response Urahara received.

“Yay!” Ichigo squealed again, garnering their attention as he peeled down the hall. “Ruru!”

The door burst open as the child barreled toward his raven haired friend. Three sets of eyes widened in surprise. So... This is what the blond had been referring to when he said the boy was  _ sort of _ okay.

“Ichigo?” Rukia breathed curiously as he hugged the girl.

“Ruru okay!”

At this Renji gave a snicker. But he was not to be saved from the horrible nicknaming going on as Ichigo turned his attention to him. “Monkey!” The child gave the red head a soft smile.

“H-hey!” the vice captain snapped, cheeks flushing slightly.

“Kurosaki,” Byakuya cut in; his violet eyes staring intently at the child.

Amber irises turned to make eye contact with the captain. “Byaya,” he replied just as seemingly serious.

A twitch of his brow was the only indication Byakuya gave to the nickname. “Explain your current regression.”

Ichigo merely blinked at the other before smiling. He had finally noticed all the snacks spread on the small table. Reaching out, he grabbed a large cracker and quickly stuffed it in his mouth. Rukia smiled brightly at this before squeezing the poor child rather tightly.

“He's adorable!”

“Try to focus Rukia,” Renji sighed with a shake of his head.

Urahara and Grimmjow decided to make their presence known at this time by entering the small tea room. Renji was getting to his feet and unsheathing his zanpakutou with a growl before Urahara stopped him with a mere wave of his hand.

“There's no need for violence Abarai-fukutaichou.”

Renji glared at the blunet who looked all for the world, bored. “He's an Espada.”

Grimmjow rolled his eyes and sat against the far wall. Ichigo untangled himself from his friend before hurrying over to sit happily in Grimmjow's lap. This received quite a few stars that both parties promptly ignored. Rukia opened her mouth to question this development, but Urahara sat at the table effectively silencing her.

“Yes,” he continued from Renji's previous statement. “However if you were paying attention, as Kuchiki-taichou has been, you would note he has a limiter in place and is of no threat.”

Renji sat back down with a huff. He merely thought his captain felt he could handle the hollow. Well, now he felt incredibly stupid.

“You dodged the question previously,” Rukia started with a firm glare. “Now tell us why Ichigo has a limiter on.”

“There seems to have been an incident in Hueco Mundo,” the blond added carefully.

Before Urahara could continue, the door slid open revealing Tessai carrying yet another small child in his arms. Short teal hair with a cracked mask easily identified the small arrancar child. “I found her wandering around the back,” he supplied.

 


	13. More and More Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More questions arise with little to explain them.

Urahara watched curiously as Tessai set the small arrancar girl down. He wasn't certain what to make of the girl's presence. All too familiar with the man's tactics, Urahara knew Aizen wasn't above sending a child to do his dirty work. However her expression upon seeing the orange haired child by Grimmjow had him questioning her potential motives.

“Itsuygo!” Nel cried out as she hurried over and embraced the boy.

Ichigo himself looked a bit irritated as he pried the teal haired girl off of his body. Giving her head a pat, he moved back to sit on Grimmjow. Nel however continued to try and pester Ichigo until the blunet intervened by grabbing the back of her dress and hoisting her off his prey.

“Why are you here?” Grimmjow growled as his gaze darkened.

“Nel,” Rukia chimed in with a tender smile. “I'm glad to see you're okay.”

“Yeah after Inoue mentioned you were attacked by an Espada,” Renji added. “We assumed the worst.”

Ah so then she was friend and not foe Urahara concluded. There would be no need for further investigation of the girl. At least for the time being anyway.

“I won't ask again brat,” Grimmjow snarled, bringing attention back to himself.

“Nel was worried about Itsuygo,” she said as her eyes began to well with crocodile tears. “Bad people came for Itsuygo and Nel was scared.” Her moment of sadness passed as quickly as it came. “But Itsuygo's okay so now we can pway!”

“Like hell,” the blunet grumbled as he tossed the girl aside. “After the shit you pulled you can piss off.”

Rukia blinked in confusion at this before turning to Urahara, knowing Grimmjow wouldn't answer any question she posed.

Urahara gave a small shrug as he replied. “The details are a bit lacking, but it seems Grimmjow-san played the role of caretaker for Kurosaki-san and your friend apparently.”

What started as a small withheld chuckle turned into booming laughter as Renji found the information quite hilarious. “Aw man, are you serious!?” he laughed heavily. “Big bad Espada reduced to a lowly babysitter!”

If looks could kill... Cyan orbs glared death at the red head. “Take off this limiter,” he demanded. “One minute is all I'd need to tear that smile off your retarded face.”

“Kitty,” Ichigo stated firmly. Grimmjow shifted his glare to the oranget for a brief moment before looking away as he clicked his tongue loudly. The occupants of the room were a bit stunned to say the least. “Monkey,” Ichigo continued as he turned his attention to his friend. “Shut up.”

There was a moment of silence before Rukia's soft laughter filled the otherwise quiet room. Urahara himself was smiling widely at the scene. The sixth division captain however gave a soft sigh at the mayhem. Renji began to sputter as he attempted a comeback, before realizing he would essentially be arguing with a child.

“So wait,” the red head grumbled as he turned to the blond scientist. “He acts and talks like a child, but still seems to be Ichigo on the inside?”

“As I stated previously,” Byakuya added, finally joining the conversation. “Soul Society needs to be informed of Kurosaki's situation.” His cold violet eyes turned to Urahara. “Do not leave any details out.”

Urahara gave a short sigh at this. Captain Kuchiki was never one for horseplay. No doubt he was highly irritated at this point. Although he deserved credit. The only indication he showed of his annoyance was a minute spike in his reiatsu that lasted a brief moment. Likely as a result of Grimmjow threatening his vice-captain. The man was a bit protective over those close to him, even if he was rather inexpressive.

“Yes Abarai-fukutaichou,” Urahara started with the red head's comment. “Kurosaki-san seems to have retained his attitude from what I have gathered. He is very much the same mentally, just incapable of reflecting such with his current form. Aside from that, I haven't been able to learn much I'm afraid.”

“How did he revert?” Byakuya asked, folding his hands neatly on the table.

“I'm not quite sure,” the blond replied softly. “Kurosaki-san is unable to tell us and Grimmjow-san isn't sure himself. All we know is that it occurred during their fight in Hueco Mundo. Kurosaki-san's reiatsu suddenly disappeared.”

“Strange,” the raven haired captain mumbled. He turned his attention to his sister and vice-captain to see if they had anything to add.

Renji shrugged. “I was fighting that creepy pink haired Espada in a tower. It messed with my ability to sense reiatsu properly.”

When the attention focused on her, Rukia flushed lightly. “I was likely unconscious after my fight. I don't remember sensing anything peculiar.”

The room fell into silence once more as they processed this new information. It didn't make much sense and with little to go off of there wasn't much to be done about it. Hence why Urahara needed to finish up this meeting to pacify Soul Society in order to get back to his research. The longer Ichigo remained like this, the more danger he was in. Specifically with Aizen as he currently was unable to defend himself.

“So then you're using the limiter to keep Aizen from finding him?” Rukia questioned finally breaking the silence.

“That is a perk, but no,” Urahara answered. Shifting on his cushion, he allowed his gaze to fall upon Ichigo who seemed to be content merely sitting in Grimmjow's lap for the time being. “His reiatsu is fluctuating quite a bit. I placed the limiter on him to avoid attracting nearby hollow.”

“Fluctuating how?”

All eyes turned to Grimmjow, a bit surprised that not only was the arrancar listening to the conversation, but was curious about matters as well.

Urahara thought for a moment before giving a reply. “It's as if he's subconsciously sending out a distress signal.” Returning his attention to the shinigami he continued. “If I can fix this flux, then I feel Kurosaki-san will return to his normal teenage self.”

“It won't work,” the blunet scoffed.

The former captain glared lightly at the Espada. “Alright Grimmjow-san,” annoyance evident in his tone. “Care to inform us why?”

“The brat's reiatsu was fine before we were brought here.” At the blank stares, he grumbled but continued. “It was low, yeah, hard to sense for me, but it was there and _not_ bouncing all over the place. Something had to have changed since you found us.”

“Odd,” Urahara replied. “Kurosaki-san's reiatsu has been fluctuating since I found him in Hueco Mundo.”

Once again the room's occupants fell silent at the new revelation. Urahara could easily be trusted, as he was not only a shinigami, but a powerful one at that. No one was certain as to the extent of Grimmjow's abilities let alone how well he could sense changes in reiatsu. If he was as similar to Ichigo as the blond suspected, then he would be too consumed in his opponent to notice such things.

As they sat quietly, Ichigo finally decided to move from his perch on Grimmjow's legs back over to the table to indulge in some more snacks. The rice crackers seemed to be his target as the boy quickly collected one and began to happily munch away. Rukia smiled at his innocence whereas Renji sighed. It would take some getting used to seeing their friend like this.

But without knowing what caused him to revert, fixing it would be nigh impossible.

“I need to run some more tests,” Urahara mumbled. “Figure out what could be causing the flux and-”

He was quickly cut off by a slightly surprised Grimmjow sitting upright and quickly grabbing the nearby arrancar child. Nel squeaked a bit, but cowered away at the downright terrifying look the Sexta was directing solely at her.

“Why were you and the brat playing in Aizen's room?”

“We got bored and went explorin',” the child answered.

“What did you do in his room?”

Urahara couldn't be entirely certain, but he swore he could detect a bit of fear in the blunet's voice. Perhaps the children had done something that would cause the Espada to be severely punished by the traitorous captain.

Nel shrugged after Grimmjow released his hold on her. The girl shifted a bit before finally replying. “We just pwayed. Itsuygo found dis pwetty rock, so we pwayed with it.”

“The hougyouku,” Captain Kuchiki spoke softly.

There was a sigh of relief from the blond scientist. “Yes, exposure to the hougyouku would cause the fluctuation Kurosaki-san is experiencing right now. He should level out within a day or two and then we can focus on trying to fix him.”

Alright then, so the experiments would be put on hold for the time being. Not a problem. This way Urahara would be able to concoct specific tests. Find a way to force Ichigo into his normal form to discover the potential cause and rectify the problem. Piece of cake.

Rukia started a bit as Grimmjow's hand suddenly and quite loudly slapped the tatami flooring. He leaned forward, his face dangerously close to Nel's.

“Where is the rock now?”

“Itsuygo has it!” Nel panicked. She clearly knew she was in trouble, and being so much smaller than the Espada, she obviously feared for her small life.

All eyes moved to Ichigo a bit curiously. Urahara gave a chuckle as the oranget was still eating the rice cracker.

“That's impossible,” he continued to chuckle. “Kurosaki-san was changed and given a full physical upon returning here. If he still possessed the hougyouku I would have-” The blond stopped abruptly, his face paling quickly as his grey irises widened at the child.

“Yummy!” Ichigo smiled in delight as he reached for yet another rice cracker.

“This does not bode well,” Byakuya added, easily putting the pieces together.

Grimmjow continued to glare at the girl, but before he could question further, Rukia chimed in with a bit of gentle prodding.

“Nel,” she started. “Could you explain what exactly happened?”

Teal locks bobbed as the child gave a nod. “Itsuygo was pwaying with the rock. Then Grimmy showed up.” There was a pause before she continued. “Itsuygo got scared and hid the rock.”

“Where?” Rukia urged, the information still not quite clicking in her mind.

“Like this.” Nel raised her hands to mouth and acted as if she had stuffed something in it.

“So then... When I grabbed the brat...” Blue eyes widened significantly as it all finally added up.

Two more light bulbs went off at this mumbled revelation. Rukia's violet eyes moved to gaze at Ichigo in surprise. Renji however seemed to choke on air, giving a delightful sputter, before pulling himself together long enough to voice everyone's thoughts.

“Wait!?” he squeaked, hands coming down to rest firmly on his knees. “You mean he swallowed it!?”

 


	14. Honey, I Ate the Hougyouku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WIth the Hougyouku inside Ichigo, Urahara has to devise a way to get it out.

After the discovery of Ichigo's accident, the night had divulged into minor chaos. The shinigami had demanded physical proof of such a thing. Perhaps Nel had recalled wrong. Maybe it had looked like Ichigo had put the hougyouku in his mouth when in fact he had dropped it. Urahara had argued that the sudden change in his reiatsu reinforced Nel's story, but the others weren't convinced. Renji had gone so far as to insult Grimmjow's abilities, stating that he clearly couldn't sense reiatsu well. Tension had quickly filled the air and needless to say the once civil discussion had switched to threats and insults.

Urahara was all too thankful when Captain Kuchiki had collected his colleagues to return to Soul Society. Of course they intended to return the day after next to take the proof of Ichigo's accident back to the Head Captain.

Obtaining that proof was going to be rather interesting to say the least.

* * *

 

The next day amber eyes, filled with annoyance, glared lightly at the scruffy man seemingly fawning over his small frame. At first, Isshin had been concerned about Grimmjow's presence. That is until he noticed the reiatsu limiter around his neck, not to mention Urahara had brought him along. Well, that wasn't entirely true. The blue haired Espada had insisted on coming. Something about prey.

“Old man,” tiny Ichigo had sighed out arms folded.

This caused the once playful face to dissipate into a more serious tone. “So it is true that he's still in there mentally.”

“Somewhat,” Urahara shrugged. “To what extent I'm not sure.”

Isshin moved to the closet in the exam room in his clinic to bring out a rather dusty and ancient looking device. At the blond's raised brow, Isshin gave a sheepish smile. “I found this in your backroom one day years ago and fixed it up.” He had needed to do something with his hands after Masaki had been taken from him. “I'm not sure if it'll work on Ichigo, but we'll find out soon enough.”

Wheeling the device over to his son on the small cot, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by a firm hand before he could test it out on the oranget.

“What the hell are you going to do to the brat?” Grimmjow growled darkly at the doctor.

Isshin belied no emotion as he replied to the arrancar. “Trying to get proof that _my son_ indeed swallowed the hougyouku.”

Grimmjow backed off a bit at this revelation, but kept his guard up just in case. He knew he'd be no match for Urahara, but he could at least snag the kid and get out of there before things got too messy.

Continuing what he had been attempting to do previously, Isshin started the machine as he spoke to his old friend. “So how exactly did this happen? You were rather vague over the phone...”

“It's a funny story,” Urahara chuckled. “One that Grimmjow-san would be better suited to telling.”

“What!?” the blunet spat.

“Well, you were there when it happened,” the former captain teased.

Grimmjow growled and bared his teeth at the shopkeeper before relenting. “Nel said the brat was playing with it and when I showed up he stuffed it in his mouth.” At this Grimmjow turned his attention away from Isshin's suddenly piercing gaze. It unnerved him a bit and he wasn't certain why. “Kid sort of swallowed it when I picked him up.”

Sighing at this, Isshin focused back on the machine as he spoke. “Can't say I'm surprised. Ichigo used to hide things he wasn't supposed to have in his mouth when he was little.” Noticing it was finally up and running, the raven haired doctor grabbed the electronic wand and laid his son down on the cot. “Don't know how many things he swallowed by accident.”

Lifting the boy's slightly over sized white shirt, Isshin placed the wand against the child's abdomen. He began to move it around as he searched for the hougyouku supposedly hiding in his son's stomach. After a few minutes of nothing seemingly happening, Urahara raised a brow as well as his voice.

“How does this device work exactly?” He vaguely remembered Yoruichi bringing it in from Soul Society all banged up a rather long time ago, but he wasn't certain what it was at the time nor how it worked.

Isshin stopped suddenly and turned his serious expression to his old friend. “I'm not sure actually.”

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” Grimmjow snapped as he moved to attack the doctor. He was thankfully stopped by a smiling Urahara.

“Now now Grimmjow-san, there's no need to get angry.” Once the Espada back off, the blond continued. “I'm sure Isshin has tested this before to make certain it works.”

At this the doctor rubbed the back of his neck and gave a nervous smile. “Honestly, no. I figured I fixed it when it turned on.” Isshin's boisterous laugh echoed in the room after that causing Grimmjow's brow to twitch.

“This could pose a problem.” Grey eyes turned mildly serious. “Soutaichou wants proof of this. If we can't provide it, Kurosaki-san will be taken to Soul Society where he will be monitored and examined. Grimmjow-san however...”

“Yeah, they'll likely kill me if you don't take off this damn limiter,” he snarled in irritation.

“If I take it off,” Urahara sighed at his stubborness, “They'll attack you before you can get away. That limiter is the only thing hiding your presence here from Soul Society.” Not to mention Aizen. Both Ichigo and Grimmjow off the grid provided them with some time before the brunet discovered their location.

“Patience,” Isshin smiled, chiming back in to the conversation. “All we need is a bit of patience and I'm sure we'll be rewarded.” No sooner had he said that than the device began to beep. “See?”

Turning his attention back to Ichigo, he continued to move the wand over his abdomen, slowly, cautiously. It only took a few moments more before the device stopped beeping and something began to print from it. Once it finished, Isshin collected the black paper and held it up to the light. It appeared to be similar to an x-ray, but not quite. From what he could tell, it measured the density of energy inside a soul. Most of the paper was black, but there was a small spot that was a bright pink.

Handing the paper over to Urahara, he allowed the scientist to examine it in the light as well. “There's no doubt that's the hougyouku,” Isshin said. “However I thought it would be much brighter considering the amount of energy it's capable of producing.”

Urahara gave a hum at this. “It should be...” he mumbled. Perhaps something had happened to it before Ichigo had unfortunately eaten it.

Silence filled the room as the blond continued to inspect the paper. It was strange that such a powerful object was giving off such little reiatsu. If he had to guess, the hougyouku had gone dormant for some reason. However what was that reason?

Grey eyes slowly widened as something he had forgotten clicked into place.

“Can we leave now?” the blunet grumbled from his spot near the door snapping Urahara out of his thoughts.

The pair of shinigami ignored the arrancar as Isshin shifted his stance to face his friend. “It'll take some time, but I should be able to get the proper equipment to remove it.”

“Roughly how long?” Urahara questioned back.

There was a pause before he received an answer. “ A week or two tops.”

“Why not have your precious Soul Society remove it?” the blunet snapped.

“Ignoring the fact they would likely take just as long to devise a proper way to do it,” Isshin retorted; annoyed gaze focused on the hollow. “I don't trust Soul Society with my son's life. They don't exactly have his best interests in mind most of the time.”

Grimmjow gave a grunt and redirected his attention elsewhere. Soul Society was clearly shit if the few shinigami he knew didn't even trust in their own system. Definitely needed a rework. Not that he cared or anything. The shinigami could burn for all he cared; he just wanted to finish his fight with the brat and not be interrupted for once.

“Can't be helped,” Urahara sighed. “Contact me when you have the equipment.” As the blond headed for the door, Ichigo hopped down from the table and trotted over to the odd pair. “Do try to hurry.” His gaze fell downward at this. “Aizen is likely preparing his next move as we speak.”

Isshin merely gave a nod, hoping this wouldn't be the last time he ever saw his son. Losing Masaki was hard, but he couldn't bear to lose any of his children. It would destroy the last bit of light he had left in his meager life.

* * *

 

The trio had begun to slowly make their way back to Urahara's shop, silence surrounding them for the first stretch. Once they were far enough away from Ichigo's house, the blond noticed Grimmjow's shoulders droop ever so slightly. It was as if a burden had suddenly been lifted from the Espada's back. At the soft sigh that soon followed the move, Urahara quickly realized just what the blunet had been experiencing.

“Ah yes, Isshin can be quite intimidating at times,” the shopkeeper smiled softly. Grimmjow merely raised a confused brow in reply. “You don't have to be afraid of him,” he continued teasingly.

“I'm not afraid of some damn human!” the blunet snapped back.

Urahara merely laughed heartily at this. “You should be when said human is actually a former shinigami Captain.”

“Is everyone in the kid's family a shinigami!?” This was just ridiculous. So whenever he would manage to kill Ichigo, he'd have a horde of shinigami after him? Actually... That didn't sound like a bad thing entirely. Give him something to do with his enemy dead and out of the picture.

“Not exactly,” the blond smiled. “Only on his father's side are they shinigami and they don't know of his relation to Isshin.”

“Good to know the rest of his family is human then,” Grimmjow mumbled. At least it wouldn't be a horde of shinigami. Now more like a handful, even if he counted the brat's friends.

“Yes, we'll go with that.”

A blue brow rose at Urahara's seemingly innocent statement. There was far more behind that simple sentence than at first appeared to be. Just how diverse was Ichigo? He seemed to be part human, part shinigami, and part hollow. Was the kid's Mother a hollow? Perhaps that explained why their family and friends didn't seem to have any issues with hollows. Yeah they disposed of them, but those were the trouble makers.

Just as Grimmjow made up his mind to further pry into the blond's knowledge, a hollow cry echoed in the area. A quick glance to their left confirmed a low level gillian stomping around a park just a block over. Grey and cyan orbs connected in a silent command from Urahara.

Grimmjow however gave an annoyed sigh before tilting his head back to point at the limiter around his neck. Not to mention the former captain had his beloved Pantera. No way was he doing any dirty work without his katana at his hip. Even if he didn't plan to use it. Rather than reply to his obvious whining, Urahara gave a cheeky smile.

“Give me Pantera,” he growled back, “And I'll kill it for you.”

The blond gave a tsk while waggling his finger in admonishment. “I imagine you must be pretty hungry.” His smile widened ever so slightly.

Gritting his teeth and resisting the urge to rip out the shinigami's neck, Grimmjow relented. “At least watch the brat.”

With a small nod from Urahara, the blunet leapt into action. The limiter suppressed his sonido, making things a bit difficult, but nothing an Espada couldn't handle. Not only was the hollow incredibly weak, but it was insanely stupid to boot. Grimmjow felt annoyed that he would have to devour this ignorant thing in order to appease the man keeping the shinigami off his back for the time being.

It didn't take long for Grimmjow to overpower the hollow and subsequently eat it. It was a grotesque image and he was only thankful Urahara and the brat were too far away to see such a scene.

“Wait,” Grimmjow mumbled, his brain slowly catching up to his thought. “Why the fuck should I care if that brat watched?”

So busy was he with mentally berating himself, Grimmjow completely missed the trio of humans gawking in mild horror from his previous feasting display. It wasn't until he felt the air shift a bit that he noticed them. The two men he didn't recognize, but it looked like the witch was with them. He'd leave her alone, but only because he owed her his life. Not that he'd admit such a thing.

The glasses wearing human raised his arm and unleashed reishi arrows at the blunet. Grimmjow easily dodged them. The arrows seemed to never end, but he continued to dodge them. After running around for a ridiculous amount of time, Grimmjow stopped to smirk fiendishly at the group. At that point the dark-skinned human barreled toward him, energy enveloping his fist as something weird looking appeared around his arm. Even with the limiter, the human's powered up punch was no match for Grimmjow's hierro. A single hand was all he needed to stop the punch.

Wide eyes gawked at him in surprise causing his smirk to widen into a playful smile. “Is that all you got?” he taunted.

“Sado get back!” the raven haired human called.

So he did. Leaving Grimmjow wide open for the barrage of arrows headed his way. Not that it was an issue, he could easily dodge them all again. However, there was a small problem no one was expecting.

“Kitty!” a cheery voice called out as the small oranget ran over toward the blunet.

Shit! The kid was going to get blasted by those stupid reishi arrows. He probably wouldn't die, but he'd be seriously hurt. And with his sonido sealed off by the limiter, Grimmjow wouldn't be able to grab the brat and get away.

“Ishida!” he heard the witch cry out in panic.

Grimmjow growled. Why was he standing there thinking when there was barely any time to react? His body moved long before his brain caught up with him. Just as he felt his arms wrap around his shrunken prey, he felt the arrows collide painfully against his back. Granted it was nothing like Ichigo had ever done to him before, but that didn't mean it didn't sting any less. Although his hierro had protected him somewhat, because of the large barrage, a few had managed to hit the same spot repeatedly resulting in his back getting covered in mostly shallow cuts. His small jacket had become mangled from the attack.

Once the smoke cleared, the trio merely watched the exchange silently. It was hard to tell if what they were witnessing was real or not, especially considering the last time they saw the pair together, they were trying to kill each other.

“Stupid brat,” Grimmjow groaned as he pulled himself to stand. Not before slapping the back of the oranget's head for good measure of course. “You can't just jump into the middle of a fight idiot.”

“Kitty mean!” Ichigo snapped back, amber eyes glaring as he punched the Espada's calf.

“Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this,” Ishida breathed as he watched the pair glare at each other.

Sado merely gave a grunt, unsure of what to say. On the one hand, Grimmjow and Ichigo had seemed like they were enemies. When Orihime last saw them, it looked more like rivals. And now... Well now they looked like close friends constantly competing with each other.

“That is Kurosaki... Right?”

“For the most part,” Urahara answered, suddenly appeared and startling Orihime a bit. “It seems he has reverted to a child during their fight in Hueco Mundo. Grimmjow-san has been tending to him this whole time.”

At this, blue orbs shifted to glare at the blond for a brief moment. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Grimmjow left the group not wanting to be a part of yet another conversation about the brat. After he was out of sight, Ichigo hurried after him calling out the blunet's nickname as he did so.

“Well, at least now Ichigo's body resembles his mentality,” Ishida teased, watching in concealed worry as the oranget disappeared from sight.

“Can you fix him?” Orihime questioned the scientist.

The wind blowing was the only answered she received. They were still left with many questions and with nothing to go off of, there was no telling if Ichigo could be fixed at this point. And with Aizen completely aware of the oranget's current predicament, time was not on their side.

Little did they know, their time had already run out.

 


	15. Found Ya!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Ichigo to return to Hueco Mundo... Whether he wants to or not.

The following day Orihime returned, questioning the blond further about Ichigo's current situation. Unfortunately, she wasn't given much, as Urahara himself hadn't found many answers, but it seemed enough to appease her curiosity. She had attempted to get Grimmjow to talk a bit, but he seemed just as clueless. As the busty auburn teen watched the blunet seemingly cater to Ichigo's every whim throughout the morning, Orihime couldn't help but comment on such.

“It's funny,” she started, giving a small sip to her tea as her attention remained on the odd pair across the room. “Hollow are supposed to be heartless. So then why is Grimmjow...” She couldn't exactly put it into words. It wasn't that he was caring for the shrunken shinigami. Babysitting wasn't the right term either. It was almost as if he had claimed Ichigo as his and was acting much like a child refusing to share.

“It is rather curious,” Urahara replied, grey eyes peeking out from the brim of his hat. “He keeps vigilant watch over Kurosaki-san.” At this, the blond released a heavy sigh. “Just last night he lashed out at Ururu when she tried to dress him for bed. Grimmjow-san ended up doing it himself.”

“I think it's funny,” a new voice chimed in.

The door slid open at that very moment to reveal a widely smiling Renji and Rukia; although the girl wore a much smaller smile.

“Kuchiki-san, Abarai-kun,” Orihime smiled back.

The pair of shinigami joined them at the small round table. No words were exchanged as Urahara provided a copy of the picture he had obtained with Isshin the previous day. Renji examined the picture before giving a nod.

“This should suffice,” he replied, tucking the paper into his top. The red head then turned his attention back to the seemingly napping Espada; Ichigo playing with a small ball leaning against the blunet. “I wonder why he won't actually let anyone deal with Ichigo.”

“He is rather adorable this way,” Rukia chimed in, still smiling. “I can only imagine he intends to keep such cuteness to himself.”

“Only you would think that way,” Renji sighed back. His gaze shifted back to Urahara, turning rather serious for a moment. “Are you sure this isn't some ploy by Aizen?”

Urahara gave an breathy hum at this. “At first I thought that.”

Aizen had been bested in Hueco Mundo so he had merely allowed it to appear as if Ichigo had been recovered. It was why he bound Grimmjow in the underground facility while he was wounded and unconscious. He would have left the hollow had Ichigo not asked him to be healed. Not to mention Urahara had assumed he would provide useful information. So much for that idea.

The blond gave a sip of his tea before continuing. “However, we've determined Kurosaki-san is still in there mentally. So if he trusts Grimmjow-san, then it is likely not a set up by Aizen.” Silence filled the air between them before Urahara released a heavy sigh. “It's been rather difficult dealing with him. Grimmjow-san seems so possessive over Kurosaki-san, it's nearly impossible to get the boy alone for any testing.”

“That's because he's a cat,” Orihime replied rather confidently.

“What do you mean he's a cat?” Rukia questioned back.

“I saw his release when he was fighting against Kurosaki-kun,” the girl explained. “It looked like a cat of some sort. Since an Espada's release form is what their original hollow form was, then he must be a cat.”

Blank stares were the only answer she received before Rukia decided to give a light chuckle. “I don't think it works that way.”

“No no,” Urahara added thoughtfully. “She could be right. With physical resemblance to an animal, Grimmjow-san may have mentally inherited some of the feline's traits.”

There was a paused before Renji decided to voice his mild confusion. “So then... How does this apply to Ichigo?”

Orihime bounced back in with her own odd explanation. “From what I know, cats hate sharing. If they view something as theirs, they will go so far as to fight other animals to keep them away from it.”

A certain dread filled the air at her seemingly simplistic answer. It did seem that Grimmjow viewed Ichigo's as his. If the constant hovering of the child was anything to go by. Not to mention the numerous growls and glares any received upon getting too close or attempting to do anything with the boy. Even Nel had been pretty much pushed away. She had been confined to another room to keep the Espada from rampaging through Urahara's small abode.

Of course when Ichigo chose to do something, Grimmjow seemingly backed off. However you could feel his annoyed anger filling whatever room they were in.

“I have no doubt that Grimmjow-san believes Kurosaki-san to be of his possession,” Urahara sighed. Grey eyes turned serious as they watched the oranget curl into the blunet's side to nap alongside him. “It's only a matter of how his mind interprets this instinct of his that has me worried.”

“Why is that?” the busty auburn girl inquired.

“There are many reasons,” the former shinigami replied. “Most of which could pose dangerous consequences whenever Kurosaki-san returns to normal.” Mostly for the substitute shinigami himself, but potentially for those closest to him as well.

* * *

 

Although he didn't look it, Grimmjow was very much awake and very much aware of what those idiots were saying about him. He was only pretending to sleep to keep the brat from pestering him. He was incredibly annoyed at being confined to the small ass house. He needed to get out and fight. Move around. Anything physical. But that bucket hat jerk would always smile and wave him off. Really pissed him off. The brat seemed to sense his annoyance that afternoon and had been behaving quite well.

The Espada was unprepared for the kid to curl up against him and attempt to take a nap. It stirred a sensation inside him. One Grimmjow couldn't name and was completely unfamiliar with. It unsettled him. He wasn't scared. Definitely not scared of the implications behind whatever he could be feeling. If he was feeling at all. Hollow didn't have hearts, so technically he couldn't feel anything.

But his mind argued back that he could feel the thrill behind a good fight.

Grimmjow's irritation continued to escalate from his thoughts as well as the shinigami and witch discussing his role in this mess. He wasn't some comrade or anything else they were implying. He was just protecting the brat. ...Because that was his prey. He was going to be the only one to kill the damned shinigami. He'd just have to wait until he was fixed for a fair fight. Not that he really cared about things being fair per say, he just didn't want a depressing encounter again.

Their fight in Hueco Mundo... Now that had been entertaining. Kid had backed him into a corner and given him a legitimate reason to release Pantera. He'd been delighted that the shinigami had grown in strength in such a short amount of time, just to defeat him.

The blunet was snapped from his thoughts as the brat lying on him shifted a bit to look at his face. As blue orbs peeked open, Grimmjow was a tad surprised at the saddened expression on the kid's face.

“Fishy...” Ichigo mumbled softly in order to avoid alerting the others happily chatting away.

“I know,” Grimmjow replied, a small frown crossing his lips. He had smelled the salt water that seemed to cling to her curvaceous frame a moment ago. He thought nothing of it until he realized he couldn't sense her presence. Meaning Hallibel had likely come to collect Neliel while the shinigami were distracted.

So he was going to collect them sooner rather than later.

* * *

 

Sitting upon his throne, Aizen smirked down at his remaining Espada. Hallibel had just returned with his unaware informant. The fact it had only taken the woman a short time to leave and return meant she hadn't been noticed. The shinigami were getting lax with their defenses. Especially Urahara. He had a feeling the boy would be kept with the strange, but intelligent blond. After all, they would assume Ichigo would be safer there.

Nearly every shinigami in Soul Society was susceptible to his shikai. Retrieving him from Seireitei would be as simple as taking a stroll in the park.

Taking a small breath, Aizen gave a false smile at the young arrancar. “Did you have fun playing with Ichigo?”

“No,” she replied with a dramatic sniffle. The brunet raised a brow, silently ordering the child to continue. “Grimmy was bein' mean and wouldn't let me pway wit Itsuygo.”

He had suspected the Espada was alive. “Do you know if Grimmjow said anything to Ichigo's friends?”

Nel stood quietly thinking for a moment. “Grimmy only talked 'bout Itsuygo bein' small.” There was a pause before she quickly added, “Oh and how Itsuygo eated that shiny rock.”

The corner of Aizen's lips twitched ever so slightly. He originally intended to collect the child when he could guarantee the mission would be successful, but now it looked like he would need to capture Ichigo as soon as possible. If he did indeed have the hougyouku inside his body, Urahara would no doubt be attempting to extract it. Should the blond prove successful, it would be some time before Aizen would be able to locate the stone again.

That would definitely rain on his parade.

“Well then,” he started, fake smile returning. “Perhaps we should bring him back here so that you and Ichigo can play once again.”

“Yay!” Nel squealed happily.

His gaze danced around his three remaining Espada, focusing solely on two of them. “Go to the transient world and bring Ichigo to me. Keep him alive at all costs.” He needed the shinigami alive in order to successfully remove the hougyouku. If he died, it would all be for nothing.

“What of Grimmjow?” Ulquiorra questioned, voice even.

“Deal with him however you see fit.”

* * *

 

Orihime stood outside Urahara's shop, mindlessly sweeping the leaves away from the front of the small building. Ichigo sat on the porch, playing with the same ball as he was earlier in the day. Rukia and Renji had departed a few hours prior. They needed to get the printed image back to the Head Captain in Soul Society. Urahara and Tessai left a short while prior as well under command of Soul Society. They weren't sure where they had gone, but it mattered not when a garganta suddenly ripped open in the sky.

The auburn haired teen barely turned around in time to see a blank faced Ulquiorra and a wildly smirking Nnoitra.

“Oh~” the tall Espada cooed playfully. “It's the bitch.” If possible, his smile widened. “You gonna fight us bitch?”

Grey eyes widened, horrified. Grimmjow was inside sleeping, but only Urahara could remove the limiter from him. She wasn't nearly strong enough to fight against the Quinta and the Cuarto Espada. With their friends too far away to make a difference, they were completely defenseless.

Orihime took a cautious step back causing Nnoitra to cackle loudly. “Ya gonna run?” he taunted.

Nnoitra wielded his crescent shaped katana artfully before hurling it at the woman. Thinking quickly, Orihime erected a shield to block the attack. It wasn't powerful enough to deflect the attack, but it did cause the katana to bounce back after it shattered her defense. The girl flew back a bit from the impact of the attack. She landed a bit roughly just in front of the wooden steps of the shop.

“Ha!” the Espada laughed as he caught his rebounded odd sword. “Guess ya got a pair after all! Too bad it won' help ya in the end.”

This time Nnoitra moved forward, charging at the girl as she managed to sit up. Orihime's breath caught in her throat. There was no way she could defend against the attack, even if she could throw her shield up in time. Time seemed to slow for her as she watched the arrancar barreling toward her. Squeezing her eyes shut, Orihime waited for the impact.

However rather than feeling immense pain, her eyes snapped open at hearing metal clashing with metal. Her gaze focused in on the head of blue heatedly locking swords with Nnoitra. Why was Grimmjow... And how did he find his katana?

A tug at her sleeve had Orihime moving to her feet and getting back quickly. Once out of harms way from the Espada now fighting, Orihime turned her attention to the small oranget that had urged her to move. Ichigo was frowning heavily. If her friend was still mentally in there, then there was no doubt he was concerned about the situation. A fully powered Grimmjow was weaker than Nnoitra on any given day.

A weakened Grimmjow with a limiter sealing all of his spiritual abilities would pose no threat. He was merely buying time for shinigami to show up.

Ulquiorra seemed to quickly realize this as he spoke up. “Finish this quickly.”

“Yeah yeah,” Nnoitra grumbled.

Pushing forward with all his might, he caused the mildly wounded Grimmjow to lose his balance. Just as the blunet stumbled back to regain his balance, Nnoitra quickly swung his katana down. The edge of the top crescent sliced into the Sexta's hierro, causing a small amount of blood to splatter against the pavement in front of him. It was deep, but not deep enough to kill him.

Pantera lowered slightly as Grimmjow bargained with his former allies. “Leave the witch out of this,” he breathed heavily from his wound. “I'll get the brat and we can go.”

Nnoitra replied with a boisterous cackle. Getting it under control, he smiled wickedly at the blunet. “Aizen never said ya had to come back.”

Cyan orbs widened as the raven haired arrancar pulled his odd katana back, preparing to deal the final blow.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're all caught up. I have all the way up to 18 written, so expect an update soon. Once I update this, look forward to a weekly update. Looking like it'll be a Sunday release. Once I get some more free time, I'll upload more of my newer fics over here for everyone to read.


	16. Separated Once Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo steps in to handle Nnoitra while Orihime does her best to heal Grimmjow.

Not afraid of death, Grimmjow kept his eyes open as Nnoitra's odd blade crept ever closer to him. He wanted to remember this in his next life so that he could come back and kick the life out of the Espada. Yeah, it sounded ridiculous, but he was a very determined hollow. He'd find a way.

Grimmjow however was not prepared for the blur of orange to suddenly appear in front of him; deftly knocking away the crescent blade. Ichigo's shirt had seemingly vanished in this form again, but his black hakama had returned, heavily tattered. Nnoitra's eye widened briefly as he caught his weapon. A smirk quickly graced his creepy face. He was hoping this would turn interesting before they were forced to return to Aizen.

“An' here I thought this was gonna be borin',” Nnoitra smiled while rolling his shoulder as if warming it up.

Just as the blunet behind him opened his mouth to speak, Ichigo turned and delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen. This caused Grimmjow to fly back a bit until he landed with a loud grunt next to Orihime.

“What the hell Shinigami!?” the Espada roared. What could possibly be going through that mind of his? He was in no condition to fend off not one, but two Espada all on his own.

The oranget remained silent, his only response was the slight tilting of his head to the human girl beside Grimmjow. Understanding his silent command, Orihime set to work healing the stubborn arrancar. As much as he wanted to argue, insist that he could still fight, Grimmjow knew he was absolutely useless to Ichigo at this point and would only get in the way. Even ignoring the fact his leg had been injured to the point he could hardly bear weight on it, he still had the limiter in place.

Wait, so did the shinigami!

As blue eyes fell to Ichigo's neck, Grimmjow quickly realized the limiter was no longer there. Glancing around, he spotted the red object sitting on the ground, roughly where Ichigo had been sitting with Orihime moments prior. How did he get it off? Did it fall off when he reverted? Had the hougyouku played a part somehow?

There was no time to ponder this further as the battle between Ichigo and Nnoitra quickly got underway. At first, they seemed evenly matched; Ichigo meeting Nnoitra's every strike with his zanpakutou. However, Grimmjow's trained eyes knew better. Nnoitra had the upper hand and the shinigami was merely blocking those blows. Ichigo's own attacks were much weaker than even the first time Grimmjow faced him. They were slower too. However he was moving about better than any of the other times the blunet had witnessed him revert. It was as if he was slowly healing in his child form and his normal form would quickly deplete that stored energy.

Nnoitra continued his relentless assault, Ichigo continuing to deflect each blow. It was clear his time in this form would be relatively short. At least, if the sweat starting to run down the side of his face and labored breathing was any indication. The shinigami managed to knock Nnoitra's odd weapon back at him, causing the Espada's balance to falter slightly. This opening was all Ichigo needed to unleash his hollow abilities.

If he could that is.

Orihime watched on in wide, unbelieving eyes as Ichigo shifted to unleash his hollow mask. She had seen it once before when he was fighting Grimmjow back in Hueco Mundo. This time however, instead of the mask quickly generating on his face, nothing happened. As a result, Ichigo was barely able to parry Nnoitra's next attack to keep the pair behind him safe.

“I don't understand,” Orihime muttered as she continued to watch in disbelief.

Grimmjow didn't exactly reply to her shock. “Just get me healed witch.”

She needed to focus on him and not Ichigo. The oranget could buy them some time, but not much. When he fell, Grimmjow needed to be fixed in order to jump back in. But even then, Grimmjow would still be delaying like Ichigo currently was as they waited for backup to show up. Those shinigami seemed to take their sweet time in doing anything.

Orihime knew how much they needed the extra help from a healed Grimmjow, and yet she couldn't stop her thoughts from wandering. When Ichigo had used that technique before, he seemed to have complete control over it. But now, it seemed as if he didn't know how to do it. Perhaps the mask breaking at Grimmjow's hands had destroyed Ichigo's ability to use it anymore. The girl made a mental note of this in order to inform Urahara later. Perhaps he could use this to fix Ichigo.

“Why don' ya quit?” Nnoitra smirked at the shinigami.

Ichigo parried the Espada's attack; shoulders sagging slightly as his chest rose and fell with each deep airy breath he sucked down. Amber eyes narrowed in a silent response. Ichigo was clearly prepared to fight to the end. Orihime urged her healing abilities to work faster on Grimmjow before something terrible could happen, but it was useless. Her level of strength wasn't high enough to heal any faster than what she was currently doing.

“Nnoitra,” Ulquiorra commanded. It was a firm reminder of how little time they had. Shinigami would be arriving at any moment due to their presence. They could easily dispatch them if need be, but the cuarto would rather avoid such a thing. The less fighting, the less likely for Aizen's precious cargo to be injured. Or worse...

The Espada merely gave a grunt in reply before shifting his attack. Play time was over it seemed. He'd have to knock the shinigami out and get the hell out of there. Maybe kill Grimmjow and the bitch if there was time.

Ichigo however seemed to be anticipating this. As Nnoitra moved in, swinging the blunt end of his odd weapon toward the oranget, he was quickly forced to pull back, a deep frown marring his features. Time seemed to stand still as the tip of Ichigo's zanpakutou was now pointed firmly at his throat. Ichigo knew he wouldn't be able to hold onto this form for much longer. They all knew. It was obvious. Even if he managed to somehow defeat Nnoitra, there was Ulquiorra to worry about. Maybe with Grimmjow's help, they'd stand a chance, but he was injured and no where near full strength thanks to the limiter.

They were all out of options.

Orihime opened her mouth to cry out from the sight of Ichigo, but was quickly silenced by Grimmjow's harsh glare. “Shut it,” he snapped. Ichigo knew what he was doing, even if they didn't.

Nnoitra's eye narrowed in annoyance at the developing complication. “Wha'dya think yer doin'?” he asked, all amusement gone from his voice.

“I'll go peacefully,” Ichigo panted before turning his head slightly to his left. “As long as they're left unharmed.”

Ulquiorra's brow ticked ever so slightly; the only indication of his displeasure. “And why should we do that?”

Ichigo tilted his head back a bit further as he nudged the tip of his sword against his neck. A small trickle of blood seeped out, running down the column of flesh. He had figured out after a few crosses with Nnoitra that the Espada weren't there to kill him. Merely weaken him until they could knock him out and take him back.

“You need me alive,” he finally said. “If you want your damned rock back, you'll do it.”

So he did know. Well, that mattered not. Aizen would be highly upset if they failed in obtaining the hougyouku. After all, the former captain needed it for his war on the shinigami and Ulquiorra was nothing if not faithful. He'd just wait until Ichigo reverted. His energy was flailing about wildly, so it was clearly about to happen.

However, they couldn't guarantee Ichigo wouldn't run himself through before that happened. Time was running out. Just as the shinigami tightened his grip on his zanpakutou, Ulquiorra relented.

“Fine.”

Nnoitra gave a grunt of discontent before lowering his weapon. Ulquiorra was in charge after all. If he didn't want to take the risk then whatever. Aizen never did say they _had_ to die, just that they could do as they pleased. Well as long as Ichigo returned in one piece that is. He was never going to get to kill anyone at this rate.

It took a moment, but Nnoitra finally placed his weapon on his back. Ichigo's breathing evened out a bit as his zanpakutou slowly lowered from his neck. He managed a quick and apologetic smile over his shoulder directed at Grimmjow, before his body began to fall forward. Instinctively, Grimmjow shifted to move, to catch his prey before he hit the ground, but he couldn't. The witch was still healing him, and his leg was useless until she was done.

The blunet was forced to watch as Ichigo reverted just before his body hit the ground in a puff of smokey energy. It quickly cleared revealing an unconscious toddler. Nnoitra moved forward to collect the boy, a wide smirk spread across his face. In seconds, the two Espada disappeared into the rip in the sky they created, taking Ichigo with them.

“You're fucking useless!” Grimmjow yelled, taking his frustrations out on the auburn girl.

Orihime remained silent as she continued to heal him as quickly as she could. But it didn't matter how quickly she healed him. The Gargantua was closed and Ichigo was gone with it. And the only one who could removed the limiter was Urahara. They were stuck here until then.

Grimmjow had been utterly useless to stop his prey from being taken away. He had worked hard to get stronger so he would never feel the pain of being too weak ever again. But apparently, that still wasn't enough to keep the one thing he had ever wanted.

“Dammit!” he cursed loudly, slamming his fist against the ground as he did so.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday updates for this fic. We're finally getting into the nitty gritty of this story. It's about to get dark before picking back up again.


	17. Theory Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally have enough pieces to put together to figure out why Ichigo has taken on the form of a young child.

Grimmjow's expression remained blank even as that stupid red headed shinigami grabbed the collar of his top and began to yell in his face. He could yell all he wanted. It's not like it would change the situation. Aizen had Ichigo again. That was it. Nothing to be done about it. At least not at this present point in time.

“How could you just let your friends take Ichigo back without a fight!?” Renji demanded.

This caused the previously silent Espada to finally speak up. “Those fucks,” he started; eyes narrowing, “Are hardly my _friends._ ” He spat the word as if it were disgusting to say. “I trust them about as much as I trust you worthless shinigami.”

Renji grit his teeth as he glowered darkly at the hollow. His hand tightened more around the fabric of the blunet's collar. “You aren't even the slightest bit hurt! Why the hell didn't you step in and help Ichigo!?”

Tired of this shinigami's anger, Grimmjow firmly grabbed his wrist and squeezed; forcing Renji to release his hold on the black collar. Renji jerked his hand free, moving to grab at the Espada again, but Grimmjow gave his chest a harsh shove. Like he wanted the red head back in his face yelling again. Screw that.

“What good would I have been?” Silently, the sexta lifted his chin a bit to show off the red collar around his neck. “Or have you forgotten about this?”

Renji's hand moved down toward the handle of his zanpakutou. Cyan eyes narrowed slightly. Grimmjow mentally dared the shinigami to do it. Give him a reason to rip out his throat. The jerk was getting on his last nerve anyway.

Unfortunately for Grimmjow, Orihime quickly stepped in to disburse the tension between them. “Stop please,” she begged. “Grimmjow did try to protect Kurosaki-kun. He was injured and I couldn't heal him fast enough before they took Kurosaki-kun.”

The vice captain clicked his tongue and backed off. However he still continued to glare at the hollow across the small room. If he really had done all he could to help Ichigo, then he should be dead right now. Or at the very least unconscious. No. He had no intention of trusting this guy. Ichigo was in his current predicament because of him to begin with.

Relief swept through Grimmjow as he finally got the idiotic red head off his back, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he turned to face Urahara. The blond had silently watched their exchange, not moving from his spot at the small table.

“Hey,” he snapped at the man. “Take this damn thing off already.” Urahara stared blankly at Grimmjow even as the blunet pointed to the limiter around his neck. The hollow growled as he took a menacing step toward the shinigami. “I need to get to the brat first before Aizen does something to him.” Ichigo was his prey. He would get the joy of spilling his blood every where. Not Aizen.

But did he really want to spill the oranget's blood? Was that why he felt the burning need to get him away from Aizen?

Grimmjow quickly shoved those thoughts aside. He didn't need them. Didn't want them. Ichigo would die by his blade. That's all there was to his urges. He was a hollow dammit and hollow didn't feel. Only killed.

“In due time Grimmjow-san,” Urahara replied. His grey eyes lingered a bit on the blunet before lowering under the brim of his odd hat once more. “Aizen is nothing if not cautious. He'll wait until he has all the information necessary before making his move.”

The Espada's glare darkened on the shinigami. “He's already made his first move. What's to keep him from making the next?”

Urahara gave a light sigh. This hollow was just as stubborn as their precious substitute shinigami. He could see why they easily got along. They were on a similar wavelength. Just as he and Aizen were on similar wavelengths. Of course, the brunet was much more greedy with his actions and behavior whereas Urahara was simply obsessed with knowledge.

“I've known Aizen for much longer than you.” He spoke coldly as a single eye peeked out from under his hat once more. “He will wait until the perfect opportunity presents itself. Such as today. He could have attacked and collected Kurosaki-san at any point, but he waited. Why do you think that is?”

Why in the hell was this shinigami asking him what that bastard thought? He had no idea what went on inside Aizen's head. Grimmjow only thought about fighting. That's all there was to think about. It's all that mattered anymore.

“I don't know,” Grimmjow finally grumbled. “Because no one was here?”

“Precisely.” Urahara paused for a moment to take a breath. “There were no shinigami that could have gotten in the way of his objective. A cautious and calculated move. The less interference the better.”

That's probably why Aizen always got the results he wanted. Grimmjow always charged in head first. It was hard some times, but he usually got what he wanted in the end. Nothing worth taking if you didn't have to fight for it in the first place.

He'd trust this creep for now. Not that he had much of a choice in the matter with the limiter still in place. But Urahara seemed to make some sort of sense. He obviously knew what he was doing. Grimmjow just hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long.

The blond shop keeper moaned suddenly, pulling Grimmjow's attention back to him. “This really is unfortunate,” he sighed. With Ichigo no longer there, finding a way to fix him was going to be incredibly difficult if not impossible. He needed more information and thankfully, there were two people present that could give him that information.

“Kurosaki-san seems to have retained his normal form a bit longer this time.” Grey eyes moved between Grimmjow and Orihime who was sitting quietly at the other end of the small table. “I'm going to need you two to tell me everything you saw today so we can hopefully figure out why.”

Grimmjow grunted and moved over to the wall where he sat down and leaned against it. “I tried to buy us some time for you idiots to show up.” His blue eyes danced over to Renji who instantly glared in return. “Not much I could do with this stupid collar on. I got fucked up and just as Nnoitra was about to kill me, the brat popped up to stop him.”

“Hmm...” Urahara clasped his chin thoughtfully. “I've seen him revert once before myself,” he mumbled. He had been watching the pair from a safe distance in Hueco Mundo when he had found them. “It seems Kurosaki-san returns to his normal state when a single feeling or desire overwhelms him completely.”

“And what would that be?” Grimmjow shot back.

“His urge to protect,” Rukia answered. She had been sitting quietly near Orihime, her arms folded in front of her. This was not the best of situations to be in, but she needed to report as much as she could to Soul Society so their next move could be made.

“Exactly,” the blond nodded.

“Not the first time.” Grimmjow shrugged. At the curious stare from Urahara, he sighed heavily before explaining. “First time the kid changed back he was asleep.”

“What was he dreaming about?”

Urahara's curiosity was getting under the blunet's skin. He glared as he snapped at the shinigami. “How the hell should I know!?”

“Did he say anything?” Rukia asked. “Ichigo some times talks in his sleep.”

Had he said anything? Grimmjow thought hard back to that night. He was half asleep and annoyed at the kid. Why was he helping these idiots anyway? He clicked his tongue in annoyance before the memory suddenly cleared up in his mind.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Something about his Mom.”

As everyone's expression fell, save Urahara's, the hollow suddenly felt out of place. Was he missing something here? Clearly he was because the room was silent before the former captain spoke up once more, much softer this time.

“Yes, my theory is still correct.”

Alright whatever. They knew the kid better than he did. It didn't really matter to him why the kid reverted in the first place. He needed him fixed so they could continue their fight. Grimmjow allowed his eyes to slip shut as the idiots around him continued to talk and sort things out.

“It's as he says,” Orihime said in defense of the blunet. “But...” The girl bit her lip at the memory. “Something was wrong.”

“His reiatsu?” Urahara questioned.

Orihime shook her head. “It was all over the place as it has been recently.” She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts before meeting the room's gaze. “When Kurosaki-kun moved to use his hollow mask, nothing happened.”

“Weird,” Rukia said. “I've seen Ichigo use it a few times and he just summons it.”

“Yeah,” Renji added with a nod. “It kind of just appears. Never takes more than a second. Doesn't last very long though.”

“Ah, but if his mask breaks, he's much weaker and can't summon it again for a while,” the noble continued.

Urahara gave a hum. If that's what was happening here, then their dear friend wouldn't be a small child. He'd be weak, but himself. That clearly wasn't the case. Some crucial piece to this puzzle was missing and it seemed the oranget was the one that held the key. Although... Grey eyes shifted over to the resting blunet.

“Grimmjow-san,” Urahara smiled. A single blue eye peeked open and glared death at the blond. “Could you tell me about your last fight with Kurosaki-san?”

“The one where he came to save the witch?”

“That's the one.”

The Espada heavily sighed as his shoulders drooped a bit. This was such a pain. “It was the same as all the others. Except we were going all out and it was a shit ton more fun. He gave as much as he got.” Grimmjow smirked fondly at the memory. Shame it went south and they didn't get to finish it.

“At what point did things go wrong?” Urahara asked.

“When I knocked the kid through a pillar.” His smirk disappeared at this. “His reiatsu dropped off instantly. Like I killed him.”

Orihime nodded as she added to the discussion. “I thought it was because his hollow mask was slowly breaking apart.”

“Impossible,” Rukia blurted out. “I've seen it break and it was instantaneous. There's no way it could slowly break into pieces.”

“Yes,” Urahara agreed. “Under normal conditions and circumstances, a vizard's mask will break apart in a single moment.” The blond clasped his chin in thought as his mind raced about processing this new information. “But what if Kurosaki-san didn't obtain his mask the same way the other's did?”

It was possible. The substitute shinigami was unique and definitely not known for doing things the way he was supposed to. He had his own rhythm that he followed.

“And what way would that be?” the raven haired girl shot back.

“Typically, a vizard forces their hollow to submit to them during the process. Any time they summon their mask after that, they're merely stealing the hollow's abilities.” Urahara glanced around the room. Okay, no one looked lost so far. Even though he was merely thinking out loud. “What if Kurosaki-san made a pact with his hollow instead?”

“How would that be any different?” It was Renji's turn to question the crazed shinigami.

“Instead of submitting and stealing, Kurosaki-san would be fighting with the aid of his hollow half.” At the quirked brow, Urahara sighed and tried to explain it in simpler terms for the red head. “He would allow his hollow to work together with him. Like a sort of shared possession if you will.”

“Makes sense,” Grimmjow shrugged. “But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything.” Grey eyes turned eerily serious as he gazed at the room's occupants. “If Kurosaki-san's hollow was indeed fighting alongside him in your fight with him, and it seems that is very much the case, then his inner hollow has been severely wounded.” It seemed things were starting to click into place by the shocked expressions around him. “With his fighting power halved, his spirit body did what it could to preserve itself; by reverting to the form of a young child. It's much less of a burden and doesn't consume nearly as much reiatsu to maintain.”

“So then his urge to protect causes him to return to normal,” Renji thought outloud, chin clasped in thought. “And because of that, any energy he has saved up is instantly used up causing him to change back.”

“Exactly,” Urahara replied with a nod.

“It fits,” Rukia said a bit dubiously. “Except he reverted a few days ago. There's no way he could have stored up enough reiatsu in the transient world to be able to change back and sustain himself for as long as he did.”

“He's got that rock, remember?” Grimmjow grumbled. And he thought the witch and the red head were the only idiots.

“Rock?” Indigo eyes blinked curiously at the blunet. What did he mean by rock?

“Although true Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-san has the hougyouku inside his body.” Urahara seemingly ignored Grimmjow's statement. “He is likely siphoning off it's power bit by bit instinctively in order to aid in the healing of his hollow.”

This was nice and all, but they needed to get off their rear ends and figure out a way to get the brat back. All this talking was making Grimmjow annoyed and tired. And that was not a happy combination for the hollow. Things might start blowing up soon at the rate they were going.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm a day late with this. I apologize. I sort of forgot that yesterday was Friday. I had a ton of stuff I ended up doing and I was no where near a computer for 90% of the day. When I finally was, it was nearing midnight and I was exhausted. I edit better when I'm awake and not miserable. We all do probably. Anyways, enjoy the new chapter.


	18. The Secret of the Hougyouku Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Urahara has been keeping a dark secret from the group regarding the hougyouku.

"Fuck this!" Grimmjow roared, slamming his fist against the wall and putting a good sized hole in it.

"Ah, Grimmjow-san," Urahara sputtered upon seeing the damage. "There's no need to destroy my home."

"No wonder you shinigami can't get a damn thing done!" Renji's eyes narrowed at the blue haired Espada. His hand shifted subtly toward his zanpakutou; ready to strike should Grimmjow attack. "All you do is sit around and talk about shit instead of doing!"

Grimmjow was livid and for a good reason too. For the past four hours, all they had succeeded in doing was figuring out exactly why the kid had reverted to a brat. Something about his hollow working with him and getting injured and needing to recover. Beyond that, nothing else had been accomplished.

Four. Fucking. Hours.

Wasted.

Why were they still sitting around talking about this garbage? They should have charged straight for Las Noches hours ago to get the brat back from Aizen. But no. The bastard bucket hat was insisting they wait. He was just as bad as Aizen. Everything had to be perfect before he could strike. What bullshit.

"How about instead of talking, you get off your asses and get the brat back!?" It couldn't be any more simple than that.

"How about you shut the hell up?" Renji snapped back.

"I have no problem with ripping out your throat Red," the hollow growled. He was more than ready to follow through with his threat. The guy had been getting under his skin since he'd first seen him days ago.

"Now now," Urahara pleaded trying to pacify the bloodthirsty pair. "We still have time before-"

"Time!?" Grimmjow's angry blue eyes shifted to the blond as he got to his feet. "The fuck you talking about? Aizen could have already killed the kid while you bastards chatted over tea."

The former captain gave a heavy sigh. He took it back. Grimmjow was far more difficult to deal with than Ichigo. Although both were impatient, Ichigo was a tad more quiet about that than the Espada.

"Grimmjow-san, I assure you that Kurosaki-san is safe for the time being." All humor had left his voice. This seemed to calm the blunet if only slightly. "Aizen will likely find a way to remove the hougyouku without killing Kurosaki-san. After all, he still needs him."

Clicking his tongue against his teeth, Grimmjow continued to glare at the other. "Aizen will only use the kid against us. He has no choice but to kill the brat if he wants his damned rock." There was no other way to remove it without the shinigami dying in the process. At least, none that Grimmjow knew of.

Grey eyes peeked out from under the brim of the green bucket hat; cold as ice. "If my test results are correct, Aizen won't even be able to kill him to get the hougyouku back."

"And what the hell's that supposed to mean?" Seriously, this guy seemed to love talking in circles. Would it kill him to give a straight answer every once in a while?

* * *

 

Gin eyed the brunet across the room a bit curiously. Ah, so that's what he was planning to do. He didn't get why Aizen didn't simply kill the child to get the hougyouku back. It seemed to be less of a hassle that way, but Aizen always had a reason for everything he did. And judging by the change to his arm, he planned to use Ichigo in some way in the future. For that, he needed to be alive.

"Do you really think the same technique you used for Rukia will work with Ichigo?" Gin questioned. It had worked for Rukia, but the variables were much different this time.

"It's the only thing that will remove the hougyouku without destroying his soul in the process," Aizen replied.

Ichigo slept on, unaware of the situation around him. He was still practically exhausted of his reiatsu from his fight with Nnoitra back in the transient world. Although he was in Hueco Mundo now and could recover much faster, he had used up more than usual and as such, needed much more time to recuperate.

The moment Aizen reached forward, ready to get his precious weapon back, his eyes narrowed slightly as a small frown marred his features. A faint pink glow had surrounded Ichigo, effectively blocking the brunet's technique from reaching into the soul. Standing upright, he voiced his disapproval with a soft hum. Some sort of barrier was protecting the shinigami.

"Something wrong?" Gin questioned; peering curiously at the other.

"It seems that the hougyouku is far too unstable to remove," he replied. "It's forming a protective barrier around Ichigo."

"That's odd," the former captain mumbled. "Ever since you fed Urahara's hougyouku to yours, it's always been stable. What's changed?"

Aizen turned to face his comrade. "Ichigo has. In this form, he's recovering his reiatsu. As such, the hougyouku has become unstable while inside his body." A small sigh escaped him. "Until we can stabilize it, I won't be able to get near it."

Gin gave a hum at this. "Any ideas as to how you would go about doing that?"

"It likely involves reverting him back to his normal form."

* * *

 

Grimmjow's anger returned in full force just as Urahara finished explaining. "If it didn't take you long to figure that out, Aizen probably already knows by now!" The blunet was on his feet again, having sat down while the shinigami explained the circumstances to them. "We need to get him back now!"

A grunt sounded and all eyes shifted to the red head sitting near the sliding door. "As much as I hate to say it, the Espada is right. Waiting too much longer could end up with Ichigo dead."

Rukia nodded in agreement. "You can open a gargantua that will get us inside Las Noches correct?"

Grimmjow sighed, finally relieved that they seemed to be taking this seriously. "I've had this limiter on too long. I won't be able to open one until it's removed and I can recover some reiatsu." Which normally took a short while in Hueco Mundo, could take days here in the human realm.

"Urahara can do it then." Indigo eyes turned to the man behind the small table. "He's done it before. It should be relatively easy to do it again."

The room fell into a hush as they waited patiently for the blond to agree. Three sets of eyes pinned him down, but he still remained silent on the issue. They were being rash again. The needed to calmly think of a plan before rushing in head first. That could get them all killed if they weren't careful.

"I don't think Aizen is going to kill Kurosaki-kun." The room's gaze shifted over to Orihime as she chimed in for the first time in a while.

"If he doesn't intend to kill him," Renji started, "Then what does he plan to do with Ichigo once he gets the hougyouku back?"

The girl stiffened a bit under the attention and pressure. "I don't know," she finally mumbled.

"We can't go off your gut feeling alone." The noble frowned as she crossed her arms. "If we waste too much more time here then-"

"He won't kill Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime snapped, determination written on her face. She knew she was right even if she couldn't give an exact reason why. "The way he spoke... It was as if Aizen needed him for something."

Probably as bait to get them all in one place for Aizen to attack. Just as Grimmjow was turning his attention to Urahara, to see what that ass hole had to say, he was surprised to see grey eyes widening for just a split second before returning to normal. The Espada narrowed his gaze accusingly at the blond.

"You know," he said softly. This caused the room's attention to shift once more back to the scientist. "You know exactly what she's talking about don't you?"

Urahara let out a soft sigh and gave a tiny nod. "Yes, I know what Inoue-san is referring to." The room fell quiet once more as they listened to the blond explain the situation with a bit more detail.

* * *

 

Brown eyes watched in boredom as the now roused child played with Gin. There had to be some way to stabilize Ichigo, even if only for a moment. A moment was all he'd need to get his hougyouku back from the shinigami's soul. Any plan his mind concocted seemed to end with Ichigo dying. That was something he needed to avoid at all costs.

Gin suddenly looked up only to see Aizen's distant expression zeroed in on Ichigo's small frame. "Maa," he sighed. This was getting a tad annoying. "If you want it that badly, just kill him and take it back that way."

Whether from stress or insanity, Gin wasn't certain, but Aizen suddenly laughed tenderly at him. With a wave of his hand, the brunet smiled at the silver haired shinigami.

"It's not that simple my friend. Nothing with that man is ever simple."

Ah yes, Urahara. Aizen seemed to have a certain admiration as well as loathing for the other. He seemed to think he was above the blond, but Gin knew better. They stood on equal footing if anything.

Aizen rested his chin against his hand as he explained the circumstances to the former captain with a playful smile on his face. "The hougyouku is protecting Ichigo. As such, I can't do anything to harm him or remove it from him until I can stabilize his fluctuating reiatsu."

Another sigh. "I thought we already established that."

"We have, but you seemed to have forgotten that fact."

Of course he hadn't. Aizen was insanely powerful. He could easily overcome some measly barrier without batting an eye if he wanted. So why then was he holding back? What was he keeping even from Gin?

Aizen gave another chuckle. "I see you are curious to my behavior. Very well then." His smile waned a bit. "As I'm sure you've already realized, killing Ichigo would drastically interfere with my plans."

"Yes, but I'm not sure why killing him would ruin everything you've worked so long for."

The brunet had worked hard to get this far in his plans. It would be a shame now if he tripped at the finish line before accomplishing what he set out to do. Why in the world would the death of this single boy ruin over a hundred years of careful planning?

"He's rather annoying isn't he?" Gin's brow rose causing Aizen to smirk in return. "He planned this as soon as he grew suspicious of me." He gave a pause, allowing the silver haired shinigami's mind to process this before delivering the final blow. "Don't you see? Urahara someone managed to bind his hougyouku to Ichigo before I could collect it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! This now raises the question on how Urahara managed to do such a thing. Guess you guys will have to wait until next week to find out.


	19. The Secret of the Hougyouku Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interrogated by Ichigo's friends, Urahara finally explains how and why he bound his hougyouku to Ichigo.

His tea room had fallen so quiet, Urahara could hear the insects making noise outside. He knew that such information would cause them to be surprised, but not quite to this extent. He kept silent waiting for the lot to process the information he had just given them. He still had more to tell them about the hougyouku.

"Impossible," Rukia muttered finally breaking the silence. Indigo eyes lifted to stare at the former captain, almost accusingly. "There's no way Ichigo is bound to the hougyouku. You created yours well over a hundred years ago."

"I did," Urahara replied with a small nod. "However I had it in my possession until only recently."

Right. Aizen had only obtained the stone during Rukia's execution. Urahara had hid it inside her body as a way to keep the shinigami from getting his hands on it. But that only served to buy them a bit of time.

"Alright, so you bound it to Ichigo." Renji shrugged. Urahara wasn't the type of man to lie. If he said he did it, then he did. "How'd you do it then?

The blond took a breath before answering the vice captain. "To understand Kurosaki-san's unique DNA, you need to know about his mother."

Both Orihime and Rukia perked up at this, instantly curious about the woman. They had known next to nothing about Ichigo's parents. Surely one of them had to be a shinigami or something since the teen naturally had a vast amount of energy.

Masaki Kurosaki in her youth had apparently been a quincy. A powerful one at that. She encountered a vasto lorde, one Isshin Shiba had been dispatched to handle. Rukia gasped at this. She knew Ichigo had to be related to Kaien. There was no way the two looked nearly identical by accident. Urahara cleared his throat at her mild interruption to continue the story. As a result of the incident, Isshin stuck close to Masaki and eventually got married and had children.

And then, Ichigo had been born.

The baby's energy was unstable right from the beginning. The vasto lorde once sealed inside his mother, had transferred to the child. On his third birthday, Isshin woke to a horrifying sight. The hollow inside his son was trying to take over and a mask was slowly forming over the unresponsive child's face. With no time to spare, Isshin collected young Ichigo and rushed to his close friend Urahara in hopes the man would be able to save his only child.

* * *

 

" _Please!" Isshin begged, holding his child tightly to his chest. "Do what you did for Hirako and the others. Save my Ichigo!"_

_Urahara could understand. After all, Isshin had just lost his younger brother a few months prior to a hollow. He couldn't bear to lose another to the same fate._

" _I wish I could," the blond replied, gaze lowering. "However your son is much to young to survive such an ordeal."_

" _No..." Isshin's voice cracked as tears formed in his eyes. "There... There has to be something you can do."_

" _There is." At those words, the former captain's eyes filled with hope._

" _What is it?" he blurted. "I'll do anything to save him!"_

_Urahara frowned slightly, but led the other further into his home. Inside a hidden room there was a small, but complicated locking mechanism on the wall. Urahara opened it using some bizarre kido and withdrew what Isshin instantly recognized as the hougyouku._

" _If we feed some of your son's blood to the hougyouku, it might be able to stabilize his reiatsu and suppress the hollow inside him."_

_The blond knew he wouldn't need to wait for an answer. His friend's eyes told him to do whatever he had to. As long as the child lived, Isshin would clearly give his life for him._

_So Urahara had. He made a small cut on the child's hand and allowed the blood to drip down directly onto the hougyouku. The stone glowed quite brightly for a moment before all shine disappeared from the rock. It now resembled a dull, fake pink crystal. They were silent, unsure as to what would happen now. And just as Isshin seemed to be giving up hope, the white mask that had quite nearly consumed his son's face, receded and vanished. Tears made their way down his reddened cheeks and he nuzzled the sleeping child happily._

" _Thank you," Isshin breathed. He would forever be in Urahara's debt now._

* * *

 

"Okay," Renji started, a tad confused. "So you gave Ichigo's blood to your hougyouku and that saved his life. How did that bind the two of them?"

"By feeding Kurosaki-san's blood to the hougyouku, I essentially completed mine by giving it a host to rely on for it's strength."

That's why his stone had turned dormant mere moments after adding the child's blood. Urahara instantly knew it worked because it accepted the blood. With Ichigo still a small child and no access to his vast reiatsu at the time, the hougyouku became dormant.

"That's so..." Renji couldn't seem to find the words to describe his jumbled thoughts.

"Messed up," Grimmjow supplied for the red head. All eyes now rested on the Espada as he focused his own sight on the blond shinigami still seated comfortably at the small table. "There's more you're not telling us. I bet you could have saved the kid without binding him to it."

Urahara sighed, but relented all the same. "I could." He paused to gather his thoughts a bit. "The hollow had yet to fully incorporate into young Kurosaki-san's soul. It was a risky option, but I could have separated the souls and disposed of the weakened vasto lorde that way. Of course, there was a good chance Kurosaki-san would have died."

"Why not just separate them now then?" Rukia questioned. "Ichigo would return to normal right?"

"That is physically impossible now." At the curious stares, Urahara continued with a thorough explanation.

It was when Ichigo trained with Urahara to become a true shinigami that the hollow inside him reawakened. During his dormant sleep inside the teen, his hollow developed a vast intellect and seemed to inherit Ichigo's desire to protect. Although unlike Ichigo, the hollow only cared about protecting it's host.

Since the hollow was asleep for so long, most of it's strength bled into Ichigo's; the oranget instinctual siphoning it. Separating the two at this point would cause both to die from the process if it were attempted. They had somehow learned to fight together. Ichigo being the main persona as he is usually strongest. But should he grow weaker or if the hollow fears his host may die, the inner hollow takes over to keep his host alive.

The hollow needs Ichigo as much as Ichigo needs him.

Rukia sighed and crossed her arms. So much for that idea. If they could separate them, it would put a stop to all this. Well, almost. Ichigo would just be able to better defend himself against Aizen. He would still be bound to the hougyouku. Speaking of...

"Why?" It was Orihime that spoke up, voicing the group's current single concern. "Why would you bind him to it?" Surely the shop keep had a good reason for doing such a thing.

Another sigh escaped the scientist. He had been hoping to keep it a secret. He should have known he wouldn't be able to hide that fact from such an inquisitive group.

"I needed a way to stop Aizen," he finally said in reply to the auburn teen. "And for that, I needed Kurosaki-san alive. His parents were both very powerful at one point and I knew the boy would inherit this strength."

"I know you Urahara," Rukia said with a glare. "You weren't after Ichigo's strength. You are highly skilled and could easily have kept Ichigo alive while separating the two when he was brought to you. So why Ichigo? What's the real reason you chose him?"

Cold grey eyes fixated on the room's occupants. "Convenience." He ignored the stares of disbelief to further explain his actions. "I knew Aizen was plotting to move soon to collect my hougyouku. By binding it to another soul, I would be able to deter him for some time. Isshin brought young Kurosaki-san to me and I found my opportunity. He had been too distraught over his son to question my actions."

And for a time, this had worked in keeping Aizen from getting the stone. With it in a dormant state, he wouldn't be able to sense it to find it. But his plan did not last as long as he had hoped it would.

Aizen had learned of Ichigo's existence and set forth a plan that would force him to come into contact with a shinigami. That shinigami just so happened to be Rukia. One of the few shinigami that held a deep compassion for family. A trait Aizen needed for his plan to work.

The moment Urahara learned Ichigo had entered their complicated world, he made plans to hide the hougyouku once again. Although still dormant, with Ichigo growing in strength by the day, it was only a matter of time before it reawakened. Urahara just had no idea it would be his own training that caused the stone to rouse from it's slumber.

Desperate, and taking advantage of Rukia's unfortunate situation, he hid the hougyouku inside a special gigai that would slowly turn the wearer human. Had it been achieved, Aizen would have never been able to get his hands on the stone. But as they all knew, things hardly went as planned.

Silence fell over the room for a brief moment before Orihime spoke up again. "If you're always trying to stay one step ahead of Aizen, why does it seem like you're always two steps behind?"

Urahara grunted, but gave no reply. Her words stung a bit, but were partly true. He did try to stay one step ahead of Aizen, but he wasn't behind. Not by a long shot. It was like a chess game between the two. Urahara would make a move, and then Aizen would. If Urahara lost a piece, Aizen would as well. They were evenly matched at this point; neither knowing how to gain the upper hand. Aizen probably thought he had the upper hand at the moment, but that wasn't true. He may have Ichigo, but they had Grimmjow.

Although, neither knew just how the Espada would act in the end.

"There's a good chance Aizen already knows all this," Renji said. "So he probably already knows how to go about separating Ichigo and the hougyouku."

"While I'm certain Aizen knows his completed hougyouku is bound to Kurosaki-san, then he also knows such a thing is impossible." Urahara lowered his gaze to his hands now folded neatly on the wooden table. He didn't wait for them to pose anymore questions before explaining himself this time. "The hougyouku cannot be destroyed and should Kurosaki-san die, it will become nothing more than a pretty stone."

Whatever fate befell one would happen to the other. When Ichigo grew dangerously weak and reverted, the hougyouku slipped back into it's dormant state. And should Ichigo die, it would stay that way never to emerge again. Although it was impossible, if somehow the hougyouku were to be destroyed, Ichigo would die as well. One could not exist without the other. That is what it meant to bind the two.

There was just more thing Rukia needed cleared up. "If he knows all this, why did he take Ichigo back?"

Urahara lifted his gaze to the noble once more; his eyes still icy cold. "I have no doubt in my mind that Aizen is devising a way to have full control over the hougyouku while keeping Kurosaki-san alive."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Life got in the way as per usual and this is the first time I've been able to even boot my laptop since Thursday. Just so you all are aware, the next update I give for this story will be the last. I intend to bulk upload the last five chapters and then walk away from fanfiction writing. It's something I've been debating for a while now and I finally made my decision.


	20. No More Waiting! It's Time to Make Our Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to go get Ichigo back.

That could have gone much better. After Urahara had finished explaining that which he had kept secret all this time, a small argument broke out between them. Specifically between Renji and Grimmjow as to what their next course of action should be. Grimmjow was still adamant about striking now, before Aizen had the chance to do anything really. Renji on the other hand suggested they wait a bit longer. They needed to regroup and get their bearings to come up with a proper plan before moving.

Their different opinions clashed and well, the talking dissolved as they split off to likely think on their own. Urahara was merely thankful the two didn't decide to get physical and potentially destroy his home.

Silence filled the shop as the nightly fog rolled in. Tension loomed in the air. Urahara knew how this was going to play out. He knew exactly what they were going to decide to do, even if they didn't yet know it. However, he had no idea which side would prove victorious in the end. He only hoped their side would.

It all came down to Grimmjow. Emotions were impossible to read on creatures that supposedly didn't possess a heart.

Dawn was still a few hours off when he heard the first rustling from one of the rooms. Orihime and Rukia were in that room. So they had finally made their decision. Urahara made his way to his underground facility where he had Tessai prepare a Garganta. The larger man looked to his friend and gave a nod. Seemed all the preparations on their end were complete. Now all they had to do was wait for the others to make their way down here.

Thankfully, the old shinigami didn't have to wait very long before the first faces started to appear. Grimmjow was the first he saw, although Urahara wasn't surprised by that fact. The blunet had been pestering them to run off and grab Ichigo since the young shinigami was taken. Rukia and Orihime appeared next followed closely by Renji. Orihime had stared in mild shock at Urahara. She probably had no idea that he was onto their supposed plotting.

"I thought Grimmjow-san opened the garganta," she had said a bit softly.

The Espada huffed and silently pointed to the red limiter still around his neck. Yes, Urahara would have to deal with that soon. Unless he purposely intended to send the blunet to his death. No, they'd need him in the end. Leaving the limiter would almost ensure he would side with Aizen.

Upon Renji's arrival, he blinked at the blond man before softly clicking his tongue. "I should be used to the fact that you always seem to know everything."

Urahara simply smiled. "It's always good to be one step ahead of your opponent."

The group wasted little time on chitchat. Only stating that they'd wait for everyone to reach the other side and then immediately make their way to the throne room inside Las Noches. Shouldn't be too hard with Grimmjow directing them. Rukia and Renji charged through the portal first. Orihime hesitated for just a moment. She visibly swallowed, took a deep calming breath, and then charged through after the others. Grimmjow on the other hand remained standing, staring intensely at the bucket hat atop Urahara's lowered head. Silently, Urahara approached the arrancar.

Grimmjow gave a wide smile as Pantera was placed in his hands once more. It felt good to hold her again. He could feel her strength flooding his veins. But there was something else. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something had changed a bit. His smile fell as blue eyes lowered to glare lightly at the shinigami still standing in front of him.

"What did you do to Pantera?" he growled lowly.

"Nothing terrible," the blond replied. "I simply cast a kido spell on your sword that will allow you to collect the energy around you at a much faster rate. This way, you'll be at full strength minutes after arriving in Hueco Mundo."

Guess this weird guy really thought of everything. None of that would matter if he didn't take off the limiter.

Just as those thoughts passed through Grimmjow's normally blank mind, Urahara reached up behind his neck and the red collar simply fell away. The previously suppressed energy flared about Grimmjow and his devious smirk split across his face. Perfect. He didn't bother saying a word to the shinigami before he jumped through the open garganta. It closed mere moments after his image faded from sight.

"I'm sorry Grimmjow-san," he mumbled at the empty space in front of him where the tear once was. "But this is the only way for all of this to end."

* * *

 

The moment Grimmjow landed on the other side, relief swept through his large frame at feeling the familiar sand beneath his feet. His happiness was cut short as his gaze took notice of the two shinigami dispatching more than a few hollow. They had clearly been lying in wait. Aizen was obviously aware of their arrival and had sent a party to greet them.

How nice.

Compared to low level weaklings like these hollow, the shinigami actually seemed strong and quite competent. Grimmjow stood by Orihime, simply watching the pair take care of the trash. There was no need for him to step in and help. Not that he really could. He could feel his energy flooding his body, but it wasn't enough just yet. It would take a bit more time before he was at full strength once more.

Once the all the hollow had been killed, Renji turned his attention back to the blue haired Espada. "Lead the way."

Grimmjow didn't even take more than a step before the sand kicked up in front of them. He gritted his teeth, instantly recognizing the reiatsu of their new opponent. "Nnoitra," he hissed.

The sand settled down after a moment revealing the devilishly smiling quinto. "Which one a ya wants ta play?"

Cyan eyes darkened at the other. They didn't have time for this crap! The more time they wasted, the more danger they were putting Ichigo in. Grimmjow wasn't given the chance to grab the handle of Pantera before a flash of red darted in front of him. Renji's sword connected with Nnoitra's. The Espada had obviously seen the attack coming.

"Go!" he shouted over his shoulder. "I'll buy you guys some time to grab Ichigo!"

Well that was nice. And here Grimmjow had assumed he would be forced to do all the work. He barely glanced at the red head as he ran past him. He didn't have time to waste on camaraderie. Not that he thought he would waste any of his time on playing nice with this lot. Heart or not.

The blunet didn't need to look over his shoulder to know the two women had followed him. It took a bit to get to the ominous front doors of Las Noches. He should have suspected their path would be blocked again, but Grimmjow had been hopeful. So much for that. Hallibel, the tercera stood firm, blocking the easiest entrance into the palace. They could go around and slip into one of the back ways, but that would require effort and time. Neither of which Grimmjow had at the moment.

For a time, no one dared to move. Perhaps Hallibel would have mercy on them seeing as how two of their group were women. She preferred to protect females than fight them. There was no warning before the blonde charged. Guess mercy was out the window. Rukia used a flash step to appear in front of Grimmjow to block Hallibel's attack.

"Kuchiki-san," Orihime pleaded loudly. Their numbers were quickly dwindling. They wouldn't stand a chance against Aizen at this rate.

"It's alright Inoue!" Rukia shouted in reply. "Renji and I will catch up just as soon as we deal with these Espada."

"You should focus on your fight," Hallibel muttered to the noble.

Indigo eyes widened seconds before a fierce kick sent her tumbling back into the sands. Orihime gasped, ready to step in and help her friend. Grimmjow had other plans. He grabbed the girl's wrist and forcibly dragged her inside the fortress. He ignored her protests as they ran through the halls. They were headed for the throne room. Aizen was almost always there which meant Ichigo would be there as well.

But Aizen wasn't stupid and neither was Grimmjow. He knew he'd leave his most powerful Espada just outside the doors to the main hall. Orihime wasn't a fighter. She could only heal whatever damage was inflicted. Their next diversion would have to be handled by the blunet. Not something he wanted to do, but was a necessary evil. At the very least, the witch could heal him after his fight putting him at full strength up against Aizen.

That's is, if she didn't somehow die during the fight.

Grimmjow could finally see the large doors leading to the main hall come into view. He could practically hear the oranget calling out for him.

"I'm coming kid," he mumbled without thought.

Orihime heard the blunet's words. Looked like his soul was aware of the attachment to Ichigo, even if he wasn't still consciously acknowledging it. Maybe after all of this was over, he'd realize that his desire for Ichigo wasn't blood lust, but something much deeper.

As the doors were completely in view, the pair were forced to come to a screeching halt. Blue eyes narrowed at the opponent waiting for him just in front of the closed doors. This was going to be an incredibly tough fight. Grimmjow growled as his right hand instantly flew to firmly grab a hold of Pantera.

"You're wasting your time." Ulquiorra stood emotionless as usual, with his hands stuffed loosely inside the pockets of his hakama. "The shinigami is ours and soon the hougyouku as well."

"Kurosaki-kun is on the other side of those doors," Orihime said softly. "His reiatsu is still fluctuating like before." There was still time. If Aizen did indeed know of a way to separate Ichigo and the stone, he had yet to do it.

They just had one obstacle left to take care of.

Grimmjow's growl deepened as he continued to glare at the cuarto. He had never once bested Nnoitra in a fight, let alone Ulquiorra. There was no way he'd win up against Aizen's precious pet. But he didn't need to win. All he had to do was get past the Espada, slip into the main hall, snag the brat, and get the hell out of there. The shinigami and witch could die for all he cared.

The kid was his dammit.


	21. Shit! It Was a Trap!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grimmjow unwittingly falls into Aizen's trap.

Grimmjow narrowly jumped back in time to miss Ulquiorra's strike that would have certainly removed his head. The blunet panted, a bit worn down from trying to make the other move away from the door. It had been useless so far. Any attempt he made was quickly thwarted by the cuarto. The Espada had yet to take a single step.

The sexta had known this would be difficult, but not quite to this extent. His mind screamed at him to hurry. To get past his opponent and grab the brat. Grimmjow did his best to ignore those thoughts and urges. He needed to focus on his fight. Even after Ulquiorra was dealt with, there was still Aizen to worry about. He wouldn't carelessly leave the brat by himself for Grimmjow to take back.

Unless of course he was up to something.

"I told you." Ulquiorra's cold green eyes stared at the panting blunet. "It's pointless."

Blue eyes darkened at the other as Grimmjow released a low growl in response. This was the downside to fighting someone that you had spent a lot of time with, unwilling or otherwise. They knew your attacks and could easily parry them. Such as Ulquiorra was doing right now with Grimmjow's next brilliant idea. It wasn't amazing or anything. Just charge straight in and see if he could hit the bastard. Simple as that.

A bit too simple. Ulquiorra easily dodged each slash of Pantera. But he seemed to be growing bored with this pattern. Grimmjow would attack, he'd dodge, and then the other would pull back after a moment. The cuarto decided he'd help the other in his temporary retreat. Ulquiorra suddenly grabbed Pantera, halting all of the blunet's movements. Cyan eyes widened as Ulquiorra's fist suddenly connected with his solar plexus. Painfully so.

Grimmjow found himself sprawled out on the cold tiled floor, Ulquiorra still blocking the door a small distance away. The sexta coughed a bit, blood seeping into his mouth. He knew the other hit hard, but it had been a while since he'd been on the receiving end. However, this wasn't enough to deter Grimmjow. A moment later and he was back at it again, doing all he could to either make Ulquiorra move away from the door or kill him. Whichever happened first.

The cuarto however seemed to be done with playing nice. He dodged the first few pathetic attempts to hit him before striking back once again. This time with knee to the gut quickly followed up by a solid right hook to Grimmjow's face. The blunet coughed up more blood from his abdomen receiving another harsh blow. The punch forced him back quite a bit. He was back where he started. At least he managed to stay upright after this assault.

He grit his teeth painfully as he noticed the bored look on Ulquiorra's face. To anyone else, the stronger Espada simply held the same blank expression as always. But Grimmjow could tell the difference. It was the minute lowering of his brows that indicated his boredom. The blunet intended to relieve that soon enough.

Another careless charge, combined with a sudden sonido, was Grimmjow's weak attempt at surprise. However Ulquiorra had obviously seen it coming. Before the blunet could even attack, let alone react, the cuarto unleashed a powerful, open palm, punch to the sexta's chest. The loud cracking alerted everyone in the vicinity to his breaking ribs.

"Shit," Grimmjow wheezed as he flew backward toward the witch.

Yeah he had regenerative powers and what not, but it would take a few minutes to mend the busted bones. More time that he didn't have. He kept his balance, despite the strong attack. But due to his newest wound, he was forced to his knees from the pain. Hands in his pockets, Ulquiorra appeared to be ready to finish this farce of a fight. His shoes clacked ominously along the tiled floor as he approached the wounded Grimmjow.

Just when he was within striking distance of the blunet once more, an orange wall of energy suddenly appeared before the cuarto. This only seemed to stop him for a moment.

"Your efforts are wasted," Ulquiorra sighed.

That moment was all Grimmjow needed. He quickly fired off a cero, destroying Orihime's shield. Smoke quickly surrounded the pair. The blunet used the smoke to get around Ulquiorra undetected. Or so he thought anyway. The debris clearing all too quickly forced the sexta to peer over his shoulder. Time seemed to slow down as Ulqiorra fired off a cero at the blunet's back. Thinking quickly, Grimmjow turned just enough to fire his own cero at the cuarto's. The two attacks collided sending a forceful shock wave throughout the hall.

The force of the blasts sent Grimmjow flying through the large doors of the main hall. Finally! He may have been busted up and sprawled out on the cold floor, but he was finally within reach of the oranget. A single glance upward and he could see him playing with Gin. Their gazes seemed to fixate on him as he struggled a bit to get to his feet.

Unfortunately there was no time for a heart felt reunion. Not that Grimmjow would have done as such. No heart, no feelings. Supposedly anyway... He was given no time to recover before a strong kick to his back sent Grimmjow hurtling towards the closet wall.

"Kitty!" He could hear the frantic desperation in the kid's voice.

The blunet narrowly dodged Ulquiorra's follow up attack leaving the cuarto crashing into the already cracked wall. He turned to face the toddler, intent to grab him and get the hell out, but he wasn't given the chance. Grimmjow was forced to dodge another of the cuarto's strikes, putting more distance between the toddler and himself.

"Kitty!" Ichigo cried out again. This time, he made to move, but was quickly blocked by an oddly smiling Aizen.

"Ah ah," he tutted. "You might get hurt if you interrupt a fight between my Espada."

Ichigo tried his best to get around the brunet, but his size didn't exactly make that easy. He soon gave up, shouting out to the blunet instead of trying to reach him. Grimmjow turned to look at the oranget again upon hearing that stupid nickname of his. His blood ran cold and his gaze darkened as he saw Aizen much too close to what was his.

"Aizen!" Grimmjow growled loudly.

The sexta was unable to do more than that before Ulquiorra swatted him away effortlessly with yet another vicious kick. This one connected with his back allowing Grimmjow the chance to brace for impact. Something about this whole fight was off... Something the blue haired arrancar just couldn't quite put his finger on. But he had more important matters to focus on. Such as getting that bastard away from his prey.

Once he collided quite roughly with the floor, Grimmjow rolled over just as Ulquiorra struck the spot he had been sprawled out on a moment prior. Climbing to his feet, he ignored the brat calling out to him again as he blocked the cuarto's follow up with Pantera. Grimmjow managed to knock Ulquiorra away for a moment and that's when everything suddenly clicked in his mind.

Ulquiorra was intentionally delaying his attacks. Waiting so that Grimmjow could either block, counter, or get out of the way. So he could survive. A single glance at Aizen's smirking lips was all the confirmation he needed.

This was an elaborate trap. And like the single minded idiot Grimmjow tended to be, he waltzed right into it.

"Ulquiorra," Aizen simply said.

It was clearly a silent command for him to wrap it up. Even if Grimmjow saw the Espada's next attack coming, he knew he wouldn't have been able defend against it. The blunet found himself pinned firmly against the wall by his throat. His hands instinctively flew up to pry at Ulquiorra's pale arm, but the cuarto was much too strong. The hand around his neck was tight enough to cause pain and limit his breathing, but not enough to kill him. They were still up to something.

"Kitty!"

Cyan eyes shifted to the side to see the oranget making his way toward him, Aizen seemingly standing harmlessly aside. Those same blue eyes slowly widened as he realized what the former captain had been trying to do. That flaring, but rapidly stabilizing reiatsu was all the indication he needed. Aizen was trying to get the brat to revert back to his normal form by using Grimmjow.

And it had worked. Grimmjow had played his unintentional part flawlessly.

"Run kid!" the sexta shouted, but it was much too late.

Ichigo's energy was still rising, his urge to protect preparing his body to shift back. There was no stopping it now. Ichigo didn't make it very far before he suddenly gave a surprised cry as he was lifted by the collar from behind.

Grimmjow did his best to glare darkly at Aizen. "Don't touch him!" he shouted. "The kid is mine!"

His words only stopped Aizen for a brief moment, the brunet chuckling at the outburst. It seemed Grimmjow was more attached to his prey than he realized. He likely wouldn't even kill the boy if given the chance anymore. Not that it mattered of course. Grimmjow would be dealt with soon enough.

"Aizen!" the sexta shouted again.

And that's when the brunet struck. Ichigo's energy had stopped rising and was quickly becoming stable. He was changing back. But it wouldn't happen. Grimmjow watched in horror as Aizen's hand suddenly burst through the toddler's chest. Ichigo gave a muted cry as blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth. His once vibrant amber eyes instantly dulled and lost all life to them.

"Kid!" Grimmjow cried out. Using strength he didn't know he had, he shoved Ulquiorra off to charge at the smirking bastard still holding the limp body of the oranget by the collar.


	22. Hollowed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo becomes a hollow and squares off with Grimmjow to finally finish their fight.

Blue eyes watched in horror as Aizen carelessly tossed the toddler's limp body aside. Blood instantly pooled on the floor around Ichigo from the large hole in his chest. A smile graced the brunet's face as he stared at the brightly shining hougyouku now back in his possession. He had hit a few snags and bumps along the way, but his plan was still going to move forward.

The former captain didn't even bat a lash as he effortlessly sidestepped Grimmjow's rage filled assault. Even if the blunet had been in the right frame of mind, he still wouldn't have been able to land a solid attack on the other. Aizen's power was immense. Of course, none of that mattered. Aizen had taken the life of what was rightfully his. Grimmjow would do all he could to make sure the brunet paid, even if it cost him his own life.

"That bastard," the Espada snarled as he continued his futile assault.

Clearly Urahara had lied. Aizen didn't need the kid alive to use the hougyouku. His motionless body surrounded by an unhealthy amount of his blood was proof of that. The fact that the stupid rock still had it's shine sealed the deal. The idiot scientist obviously didn't bind the two properly. Perhaps Ichigo reverting had caused them to no longer be connected in such a manner.

Aizen laughed softly as he used the power of the hougyouku to knock Grimmjow away. He was getting rather bored with the hollow's pathetic attempts to hit him. "I assume you are referring to Urahara." His lips tilted upward into a playful smirk. "Whatever he may have told you, I assure you he is correct."

There was no way. "He said you needed him alive for your fucking rock to work." Grimmjow narrowed his eyes as he readied Pantera for his next plan of attack.

"I do," the brunet simply replied.

Back on his feet once more, Grimmjow charged for Aizen yet again. He wasn't about to give up. Aizen would have to kill him first. Plus, he was getting annoyed with all the vague answers. These shinigami seemed to love creating their own suspense. And that smile. That stupid smile of his was really getting under Grimmjow's hierro. Even if he died at the hands of the other, he'd happily go if it meant he wiped that smug look off his face.

Aizen laughed once more as he easily grabbed the blade of Grimmjow's katana, halting his attack aimed at his chest. "I never said he had to be coherent."

Before the Espada could question this further, his blue eyes widened as an immense reiatsu billowed over him from behind. He slowly turned to find it's source only to see the shinigami's limp body slowly lifting from the floor. It had reverted back to it's normal form at some point. Shock didn't even begin to describe what Grimmjow was feeling in that moment.

Ichigo's hair suddenly grew fairly long. His skin turned ghostly white while a hollow mask consumed his face. But his chest is what had caught the sole attention of the blunet. Where Aizen's hand had previously struck there was now a gaping hole. A hollow hole to be exact. He had only ever seen one once before, but the oranget's reiatsu and appearance was definitely that of a vasto lorde; the most powerful of all hollow.

But this was impossible. The hollow that had merged with Ichigo had been wounded in his fight with Grimmjow. For him to take over in the way that Urahara had mentioned, his hollow had to have been healed. Had it been healed, Ichigo would have returned to normal.

Unless, Aizen had healed Ichigo using the hougyouku the moment he pulled it from the boy's body. That was the only way for this to be possible. A single glance back at Aizen and the glowing stone was all the confirmation Grimmjow needed. This was probably the only way for Aizen to have the hougyouku and Ichigo under his control.

The hollowed Ichigo released a deafening cry as energy began to channel between the long horns atop his head. A cero fired off as a result directly for Grimmjow and Aizen. Grimmjow got out of the way, but Aizen merely deflected the attack with kido. The hougyouku glowed brighter for a moment causing the vasto lorde to give a strangled growl. Ichigo seemed to resist for a moment before the hollow began to slowly approach Aizen.

That bastard was controlling him with the hougyouku. Grimmjow gritted his teeth as he watched what was his willingly obey the former captain. He ignored the footfalls that rapidly approached from behind. Obviously those shinigami idiots had somehow survived their fights and made it just in time to watch their friend become a monster.

Still smiling, Aizen turned his head just enough to look over his shoulder at his silver haired companion. "Are the necessary preparations complete?"

"Just about," Gin replied. With the wave of his hand, a large gargantua opened up behind him. No doubt leading to Soul Society. "There. Now they're complete."

That damn smile of his quirked upwards ever so slightly in obvious pleasure. "Good." He turned fully and made his way for the open portal, ready to finish what he started. "Let's not waste any more time. Ichigo."

The hougyouku glowed brighter for a moment, the silent command being given to the hollowed shinigami. Ichigo turned to face the group, another cero powering up between his horns. More than ready for this, Grimmjow rushed toward the oranget and dodged the cero. However he was not prepared for the getsuga to fly from Ichigo's zanpakutou. He deflected most of the attack with Pantera, but by the time he had recovered, Ichigo was gone.

Blue eyes zeroed in on the rapidly closing gargantua. Like hell he was going to let it end this way. A few steps using sonido and Grimmjow was running at top speed through the portal. The other end was closing quickly as well. He still had to make Aizen pay for what he did. Grimmjow clenched his teeth as it seemed he wouldn't make it. The Espada pushed himself harder and managed to just narrowly get through the gargantua just as it closed.

Finally. Something went right for once.

The Sexta scanned the area around him as he didn't instantly see the trio that had left a moment prior. A second later and his eyes found the prize he sought. Aizen's stupid slicked back brown hair. Only it was super long all of a sudden. Grimmjow landed behind them, glaring darkly.

"Aizen!" he shouted for the umpteenth time. "The brat was mine! You knew that!"

Although he was surprised when the former captain suddenly turned, revealing his odd purple sclera and the hougyouku merged with his body, Grimmjow didn't show it. He continued his death like glare as he waited for Aizen to do something.

Anger surged the blunet into action when all the bastard did was crack a smile. Now he was definitely going to wipe that stupid look off his face. Pantera pulled back and ready to strike, Grimmjow charged at the powerful shinigami. He swung the moment he was in reach, but his attack was blocked... Blocked by a familiar black katana. Had Aizen ordered the brat to protect him?

It was at that moment Aizen let loose a boisterous laugh. "It seems the new Ichigo actually wants to protect me without being commanded to do so! Go ahead," he laughed, the stone on his chest glowing brightly again. "You may play with him to your heart's content."

Grimmjow wasn't even given the chance to reply before he found himself soaring through the air and quickly buried under rocky debris. He climbed to his feet and noticed the shinigami brat had knocked him quite a distance away. He could still see the town that had been spirited away to Soul Society. However now he could see all of it instead of just a small portion.

A sudden hollow cry had the arrancar turning on his feet to face the vasto lorde. "Have you forgotten!?" Grimmjow shouted at Ichigo; the hollowed shinigami simply staring at him. "Aizen is your enemy! Our enemy! Why would you-"

He wasn't given the chance to finish as the oranget released his trademark attack from his zanpakutou. Grimmjow dodged it easily enough, but that was only the beginning. Ichigo followed up with his sword and the blunet blocked it with Pantera. But in this form Ichigo was powerful. Far more powerful than the sexta. He was over powered and knocked back into their rocky surroundings in a matter of seconds. Blocking was useless. Dodging was useless. The only way to win this fight was to charge in head on.

And that's exactly what Grimmjow did. He quickly powered up his cero as he charged the hollowed shinigami. He fired off as many as he could at point blank range. Had it been anyone else, it would have done some damage. But Ichigo was a vasto lorde right now. Grimmjow should have known he wouldn't stand a chance against him. The smoke from his blasts didn't even clear before Ichigo retaliated with a cero of his own. Grimmjow found himself yet again crashing into the rocks.

It wouldn't end like this. He refused to let it.

The smoke around Ichigo finally cleared when the blunet managed to get to his feet again. He stared up at the hollow staring down at him. The Espada's breath came in heavy pants. He may have healed from his encounter with Ulquiorra, but he still wasn't at full strength.

This fight was going to end badly for one of them.

Grimmjow had a sinking feeling in his gut that it would be him.

"Shit," he mumbled.


	23. So Long Shinigami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their fight finally reaches it's conclusion.

Their fight finally took to the ground. Grimmjow had gotten tired of being knocked into the surrounding mountainous terrain and had jumped down and landed on the dying grass below. Ichigo had followed suit. Whether it was to finally finish the fight they had started so long ago or to just kill Grimmjow to keep him from getting in Aizen's way, he'd never know.

Not that he really cared either way. It may not have been what he had in mind, but he was getting his fight with the shinigami. A currently very one sided fight.

It was much easier to dodge Ichigo's barrage of never ending ceros on the ground. He could use his sonido better this way. Solid surfaces tended to be easier to push off of and required less concentration than hovering midair to do it.

There was a sudden break in the hollowed shinigami's attacks and Grimmjow took that as his chance to charge in. Pantera at the ready, he swung with exact precision. Ichigo however was faster in this form. He blocked each and every one of Pantera's slashes with Tensa Zangetsu. Grimmjow found his annoyance rising. He swung his katana once more, but Ichigo deftly caught it bare handed. He delivered a powerful kick to Grimmjow's midsection sending the hollow tumbling backward quite a ways.

When Grimmjow righted himself, he panted heavily as his hold on his sword tightened. This clearly wasn't working and he was all out of ideas.

"No choice," he rasped.

Pulling Pantera back, Grimmjow arched his fingers against the blade as if he intended to scratch it's surface. "Kishire, Pantera!"

His fingers scraped along the blade as his reiatsu climbed in strength. Ichigo seemed to watch in mild wonder as Grimmjow released his ressurecion form. His blue hair grew in length to match Ichigo's and his body covered itself in white armor like skin. The Espada's fingers became claws and his feet turned to paws. In this form he closely resembled his original adjuchas form; a panther. Not only did this increase his reiastu and the strength of his hierro, it also greatly increased his speed.

Hopefully this put him on more even footing with the vasto lorde. Though he knew in the end it wouldn't. But Ichigo wasn't in a coherent state of mind. At least it seemed that way. Combined with his released form, that could easily be the advantage for him to win this fight.

Ichigo seemed to silently size up Grimmjow's new form before suddenly firing a cero. Just one this time. Grimmjow easily batted it away with little strength. Either the oranget had held back to test the sexta's new form or he wasn't nearly as strong as Grimmjow initially assumed.

A new unending barrage of cero from the vasto lorde kicked up again and Grimmjow easily dodged them. They were sporadic and hardly aimed well. He missed one however and took the full blast head on. As he tumbled head over heels backward from the blast, he realized one thing. Ichigo had definitely been holding back with that first blast. This one had actually hurt a bit.

Grimmjow caught himself easily enough and headed straight back toward the oranget. He wasn't going to get the upper hand in this fight if all he did was run around like a coward. Of course, he wasn't keen on the pain part, but it was a necessary evil if he was going to get close enough to attack. He leapt at Ichigo once he was close enough, claws darting out to cut at the transformed teenager. In this form, Ichigo was much faster than usual, but Grimmjow easily kept up. He had no intention of letting up until he actual hit the kid.

His efforts were soon rewarded as he managed to bury his clawed hand in the vasto lorde's abdomen. Unfortunately this didn't stop Ichigo for very long. He reached down and grabbed Grimmjow's wrist, pulling the blunet's hand out of his midsection and swung down with his zanpakutou. Blood spurted from Grimmjow's chest at the fresh wound.

That one had really hurt.

The arrancar jumped back, putting a safe distance between them. He was hurt, but not out yet. Ichigo had been injured too, but it didn't seem to be doing much to deter him. Blood seeped from the oranget's wound, but that was it. No cry or grunt of pain. Hell, he wasn't even holding his injured site like he had done in previous encounters.

It seemed the kid was no longer in there mentally.

Ichigo's attack had missed all of Grimmjow's vital points. It looked nasty because it was deep, but not deep enough to kill him. His regeneration was already kicking in and healing up the deepest parts of the wound so he wouldn't bleed to death. Either Ichigo had just struck out to hit whatever flesh he could, or the shinigami had intended to miss his chance at finishing him off.

Maybe he was still in there, just not in complete control.

But that didn't matter. Any more missteps and Grimmjow could kiss his ass goodbye.

Grimmjow bent his arm and aimed his elbow at the hollowed Ichigo. Five blue darts shot forth and quickly connected with the oranget. He didn't seem to care about blocking. Grimmjow used the smoke created from the attack as his chance. Charging in, he used his speed to land as many hits as possible. Unfortunately, even with his acrobatics, Ichigo dodged each and every one. Zanpakutou at the ready, the transformed shinigami swung out at his opponent. Grimmjow pulled back, but not quick enough to dodge the attack entirely. Another gash, this one much more shallow, appeared across his upper chest.

He jumped back again. It seemed distance was his friend for right now. Getting too close to Ichigo had proved dangerous. He preferred things up close, but Grimmjow did have a way from attacking at a distance. The sexta jumped into the air, Ichigo silently watching him as he did. Giving a smirk, Grimmjow reached out and seemingly slashed at the air. Blue energy materialized at his claws.

"Desgarron," he said, smirk still in place. Reaching forward, he shot the razor sharp attack straight for the other. "Good luck blocking this shinigami."

It was an attack he had developed on his own. His most powerful attack. Even his gran ray cero was chump change compared to this. All he needed was a direct hit and Ichigo would be skewered in a rather gruesome manner. It was perfect.

But things hardly ever went Grimmjow's way. He should have known the other way block the first wave. His black zanpakutou had taken the majority of them and batted them away easily enough. Bastard didn't even get pushed back an inch. This was bad. If his strongest attack was swatted away with little effort, Grimmjow was quite screwed.

Fucked was more like it.

Not one to give up, even when he probably should, Grimmjow lashed out with his other hand. The fight was over in an instant. It had happened so fast, it took Grimmjow a few moments to register the pain of having that black kanata buried deep in his left side. The Espada gave a pained grunt as his body fell backward, Ichigo's sword slipping out of him. He was so stunned from what had just occurred that he didn't even brace himself for impact causing the sexta to crash heavily into the ground below.

Ichigo landed right next to the seemingly unconscious Espada. He stared down at the other for a moment before turning and walking away.

Grimmjow should have realized he would never stand a chance against a vasto lorde. Ichigo had dodged four of the five attacks and cut through the fifth one to catch Grimmjow off guard. Combined with his increased speed as a hollow, Ichigo easily buried his zanpakutou into Grimmjow's side.

But this fight wasn't over. Not by a long shot. As long as Grimmjow still lived and breathed, he would keep fighting. He struggled back up to his feet, but he was heavily wounded. His release form melted away and returned to his katana. His breath came in heavy pants as he stared at the retreating back of his opponent.

"This isn't over," he rasped. Ichigo however did not stop. Angered, Grimmjow used what little strength he had to take a few steps forward. "The fight's not over until one of us is dead Kurosaki!"

Cyan eyes widened as the vasto lorde suddenly appeared right in front of him. Grimmjow's breath stilled as Ichigo's katana stopped just short of piercing the flesh of his neck. For a moment neither moved. He had no idea why the transformed shinigami just stood there pointing his sword at Grimmjow's neck, but the Espada didn't care. He struck out with Pantera.

Ichigo pulled back instinctively, but not quick enough. Pantera managed to slash off one of the horns atop his head. The oranget stumbled back, Grimmjow watching with wide confused eyes. The mask covering Ichigo's face suddenly cracked and crumbled away. His previous black and yellow eyes faded to reveal his normal amber colored irises. The hole in his chest closed as his skin reverted back to it's usual tanned shade. His long hair vanished to be replaced by short spiky locks once more.

For some reason, unknown to either, Ichigo had finally reverted back to his original teenage self. He collapsed to the ground below exhausted. Grimmjow closed the small distance between them and aimed Pantera at Ichigo's neck. This fight was now his. Just as he reeled his sword back to deliver the final blow, Ichigo smiled. Actually smiled softly at him.

"Thank you," he said weakly.

Grimmjow stopped his attack and stared curiously at the insane shinigami. Why the hell would he be thanking him? He was about to end the kid's life.

"For protecting me in Hueco Mundo I mean."

Even though that's exactly what he did, Grimmjow would deny he acted as such even in his next life. A cooling breeze blew past them as they continued to stare at each other. Grimmjow had yet to put away his sword although Ichigo's lay on the ground next to him.

"Why?" Now it was Ichigo's turn to look perturbed. "Why didn't you finish me off?" The kid had seemed hell bent on killing him since he had changed into a vasto lorde.

The shinigami chuckled weakly at that. "That was the first time you said my name." Ichigo paused for a moment before continuing. "Not shinigami, or brat, or kid, but Kurosaki."

Grimmjow's face felt hot as his cheeks no doubt flushed from the stupidly happy smile now plastered on Ichigo's face. Seriously? That had been what brought him back about? His fucking name? Whatever. This was stupid anyway. Grimmjow returning Pantera to her sheath. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he turned away from Ichigo and stomped off. With a flick of his wrist a gargantua opened up. His business here was done.

"I'll count this as a draw," he said back to the shinigami. He turned to face him again, a smirk now plastered on his face. "Next time, I won't go easy on you."

At this, Ichigo sat up. He almost looked sad. Grimmjow didn't like such a look on the kid's face. He much preferred that stupid smile from a moment ago. "You don't have to go. I'm sure we could get a pardon from Soutaichou and you could stay here and-"

The arrancar cut him off with a laugh. "That ain't my style." Like hell he'd stay here with these weaklings. He'd have way more fun destroying stuff in Hueco Mundo anyway. "Gonna miss me?" he teased the oranget with a playful smile.

Ichigo's cheeks flushed a bright red as he snapped weakly in reply. "N-no!"

Grimmjow laughed again. Turning away, he jumped up into the gargantua. Just as it was starting to close, he turned to face Ichigo one last time. "So long shinigami."


	24. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six months is a long time without you, Shinigami...

Six months had passed in the blink of eye since Ichigo had returned to his normal self. While Grimmjow had been busy dealing with the vasto lorde form of the shinigami, Gin had betrayed Aizen and managed to heavily injure him. The hougyouku had been separated from the brunet during this which allowed Urahara to step in and seal Aizen's reiatsu. The former captain was currently locked in the deepest part of the Maggot's Nest where he would spend the rest of eternity.

As for the hougyouku, it was collected by the Zero Squad and locked in a secret and heavily guarded vault in the Soul King's palace.

Rukia and Renji had teamed up, with the assistance of Orihime, to take down Ulquiorra so that they could return to Soul Society. However, by the time they made it back, the fight was already over.

Ichigo had been stuck in Soul Society for a whole month, recovering from his sustained injuries as well as giving his reiatsu time to fix itself. Returning home for the teen had been dreadfully boring. His hopes seemed to rise a bit any time a gargantua opened up and he'd rush out to be the first to intercept the hollow. When he had been asked about this, the oranget had merely shrugged. Seemed he didn't exactly realize his own feelings. But Rukia could tell. Well, everyone could tell honestly. It was painfully obvious to everyone except Ichigo.

He was clearly hoping for Grimmjow to appear so they could have their rematch. Their fights had all been interrupted and the last two weren't exactly fair. It was only natural he'd want to settle the score. But it was more than that. Ichigo obviously wanted to see Grimmjow again. Even if both parties were blind to it, there was a blatant connection between the two.

"You seem to be doing just fine," Rukia concluded after giving Ichigo a physical. She had been ordered by Soul Society to check up on him. They needed to be sure his reiatsu was still stable. The last thing they needed was for one of their best to change back to a toddler again.

"Congratulations by the way," he said. Rukia stopped putting the instruments away for a moment as she blinked at the oranget. "On your promotion?" He smiled as she sucked in a breath of air.

"Oh yes. Thank you." She returned to putting the tools away before continuing. "How did you know by the way?"

Ichigo laughed and simply pointed to her upper arm where the vice captain badge for division 13 now rested around it. Violet eyes shifted down before she too laughed with him.

"I keep forgetting about that."

They laughed softly for a few moments before quieting down. Ichigo released a sigh, unintentionally catching Rukia's attention. So it was finally starting to bother him. Perhaps he was consciously aware of his feelings now.

With a tender smile and a soft chuckle, Rukia nudged Ichigo's shoulder. "Why don't you go see him instead?" At his confused expression, she continued with a playful tone. "You're not fooling anyone Ichigo. You miss Grimmjow. Go see him."

He tried to contain his excitement, but it proved useless as he ran through Urahara's house toward the basement. Just before he jumped down the open hatch, Ichigo popped out of his body into his soul form. At the bottom of the training zone, Urahara stood, smiling softly, by the open gargantua.

Ichigo stopped for a moment before giving a smile to the blond and hurrying through the open portal. He emerged on the other side quickly enough. Hueco Mundo it seemed was still the same. Not that he should have expected anything different. Las Noches itself was the same as well. He figured the fortress would have fallen as soon as Aizen was out of the picture. But he could sense that familiar reiatsu inside. Seemed he was keeping the fortress all to himself.

Not one to waste time, Ichigo hurried through the empty halls straight for the main hall. It's where he could sense that energy coming from. Bursting through the doors, Ichigo couldn't stop the wide smile from crossing his lips. Grimmjow stood, looking rather bored with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Took the kid long enough. He'd been waiting a while for his familiar energy to show up in his territory again.

A wide and devious smirk appeared on Grimmjow's face as his gaze connected with brown eyes. "Miss me shinigami?" he teased.

If possible, Ichigo's smile widened as he plucked Zangetsu from his back. "Don't kid yourself!" he shouted as he happily charged in with vigor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long ride, but we finally reached the end. In one piece no less! Their romance is implied, but still in it's infant stages. Clearly Grimmjow and Ichigo are just now coming to terms with wanting the other around. They'll eventually come around. As for me, this is it. I've loved all the years I have spent writing stories for you guys and now it's time to move on. Please enjoy all my stories to you heart's content. Who knows? Maybe I'll come back some day. But for now, it's time to focus on other things for me.


End file.
